Check out the Tornado Recovery website - For the latest news on the recovery and resources that can help residents, visit the City’s tornado page at www.minneapolismn. gov/tornado.
Hotline makes it easy to connect to recovery resources - The Northside Community Response Team Hotline is available to help people affected by the tornado reach recovery services and support. Call 612-787‐3730 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The hotline can help with questions on housing and legal issues, dealing with landlords, support for businesses, and more.
Need help paying for tree removal? Homeowners who still have fallen trees on their property are responsible for their removal, but that work can often be expensive. That’s why the City has a financing option available to help folks who can’t afford to pay for the work up front. With a homeowner’s permission, the City can finance the removal of the tree, have the work done, and assess the costs to the homeowner’s property taxes, spreading out payments over five years. Call 311 to learn more.
Sidewalks will be repaired at no cost to property owners - City leaders have approved a plan to repair tornado‐damaged sidewalks without assessing costs to property owners. Around 1,600 sidewalk panels were damaged by the storm, and work to repair them began in August.
Always use a licensed contractor - Before hiring a contractor to do work on your home or business, make sure they are licensed. This ensures they have the necessary training and insurance to do the job safely. It’s easy to learn if a contractor is licensed. Just visit www.minneapolismn. gov/mdr/FindLicCont/.
Resources available to help make repairs - If you have tornado damage to repair, first contact your insurance company about filing a claim. Homeowners affected by the tornado who have questions about insurance claims, repair contracts, other real estate matters, or other legal issues can call the Volunteer Lawyers Network at 612-752‐6677.
If your insurance doesn’t cover the cost of repairs, apply for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan. You must complete the SBA loan application to be eligible for many other forms of assistance. You have until Sept. 6, 2011 to apply. SBA loans (at approximately 2.5 percent interest for homeowners and renters, and 4 percent for businesses) have credit and income qualifications. The amount the SBA will lend depends on the cost of repairing or replacing the home and/or personal property, minus any insurance settlements or grants.
To apply, email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov or call the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659‐2955 or 800-877‐8339 for people with speech or hearing disabilities Monday‐Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Loan applications are available for download from www.sba.gov.
When private insurance and SBA loans do not meet your tornado repair needs, other resources may be available. Contact these organizations to learn about available loans and grants:
Center for Energy & Environment, 612-335‐5884, www.mncee.org
Housing Resource Center – North, 612-588‐3033, www.gmhchousing.org
Neighborhood Housing Services, 612-521‐3581, www.northsidenhs.org
If your property did not receive substantial damage but you still need help, you may be eligible for assistance from these organizations:
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, 612-788‐8169, www.tchabitat.org
Rebuilding Together, 651-776-4273, www.rebuildingtogether‐twincities.org
The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency has announced two initiatives to help Northside tornado victims.
The first one (called the Quick Start Program) is a no interest 30 year loan up to $30,000, and the balance is forgiven if you live in the property for 10 years. It is for those who didn’t qualify for SBA, or other federal, assistance, or need more help. To qualify, you must first have registered with the SBA (that can be done at 1-800-659-2955). For info, call 612-335-5891; 612-588-3033; or 612-521-3581. Apply at www.mnhousing.gov. The second program is through the Community Revitalization Fund. It will provide $750,000 for homeowner tornado victims to address extra costs for repairing their home because of pre-existing code violations and the need to repair at the new code level. Contact the same numbers and email.
Also note: There was a back-to-school drive on August 18 to help tornado affected families with children attending Lucy Craft Laney (3333 Penn), a pre-K-8 community school which serves 600 students, 98 percent of which are on the free or reduced lunch plan. You can still drop off essential school supplies which will be distributed to students in need. The items most needed include backpacks, school boxes, #2 pencils, spiral notebooks, crayons, glue sticks and Tornado recovery updatepocket folders. Cash donations are also accepted.