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http://www. startribune.com/lifestyle/yourmoney/98886244.htm1?e1r=KArksLckD 8EQDUoaEygyP40:D W <br />~„ .: ,: <br />~_ ~~ <br />Point vnur <br />~ ~ rr~,otr le bro.v5cr to <br />~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~~ IL. ~_.~~~ http~~i:.t~rtrit,une curyi <br />Housing costs bleeding many <br />Minnesotans <br />as they struggle to find and pay for housing, <br />even as economists claim the economy is <br />recovering. <br />For people in many everyday jobs, <br />owning - or even renting -housing <br />is out of reach. <br />By JIM BUCHTA and MOLLY YOUNG, Star Tribune <br />staff writers <br />Last u}adate: July 20, 2010 - 10:34 PM <br />Despite steady declines in housing prices and <br />mortgage interest rates, many Minnesotans <br />-- even those with jobs -- still face <br />formidable challenges when it comes to <br />paying for a home. <br />On Tuesday the Minnesota Housing <br />Partnership (MHP) released a report that says <br />low wages and too few jobs have .left nearly a <br />third of all homeowners and nearly half of all <br />renters in the state paying more than 30 <br />percent of their gross income on housing. <br />Separately, the Treasury Department said <br />only 30 percent of troubled homeowners <br />nationwide who were able to modify the <br />terms of their mortgage Dave stuck with the <br />program.. More troubling, 40 percent of those <br />seeking help didn't complete the program. <br />Together, the reports paint a grim picture of <br />the challenges that face working Americans <br />Business has picked. up recently for Ruth. <br />NI:acAllister, a house painter from Linwood <br />Township, but it maybe too late to save her <br />home. The single mother of two teenagers <br />signed up for the federal loan modification <br />program. in September but was stunned to <br />learn. a few months later her bank had no <br />record she had ever been part of it. <br />Now her three-bedroom, two-bathroom <br />house will be foreclosed this fall. "I'm just <br />trying to stay in the home that my kids have <br />lived in for 17 years," MacAllister said. <br />As late as 2008, one in eight Minnesota <br />households spent at least half its income on <br />housing, according to the MHP, up from. 1. in <br />1 S in 2000, the fastest increase of any state <br />in the nation during that dine. <br />Chip Halbach, Mj1P's executive director, said <br />in the early part of the decade home prices <br />and rents in Minnesota were relatively low <br />but climbed dramatically as buyers stretched <br />to buy as much. house as possible. Incomes, <br />however, didn't keep pace. <br />At Aeon., a Twin Cities-based. affordable <br />Advertisement <br />;~ ''~~ <br />~, <br />. <br />w <br />y.,uy, ., <br />' ~~w~i <br />R ~ r ~ 1 ~' <br />~ ~ <br />I ~~ ~~ <br />_ t....,.~;~ <br />i <br />Tli,. ~ i~l <br />1N~D'N~SL7AY`, ~Er~-~~MBER <br />THt1RSf7A`!~`, SERTEMBER 'i~ ~`~'~t~L ~+~E: <br />ON SALE lLtt~f r~~x~rwrASrF~z,cr~~r <br />~A~tFk ('y• Mil~LL <br />o« nate~~a<ty"~C4~era3ktni~,..,"._,,• ~. E175f5LCCI~~,L4n3 <br />~t"I~t PC~~"d~'i~E'C7 C7~ ~ ~ .` € ~ . .... <br />http://www.startribune.com/templates/fdcp? 1279813713011 <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />7/22/2010 <br />