Bemidji City Council Candidates Discuss Housing Ahead of General Election

Bemidji City Council candidates discussed local housing shortages and how to fix the problem at forum hosted by the Headwaters Landlord Association on Thursday. (Footage: Lakeland News)

A shortage of housing is something that has been affecting the nation for quite some time, and the city of Bemidji is no different. The Headwaters Landlord Association (HLA), a non-profit organization that facilitates communication between landlords, tenets, and city officials, held a forum Thursday with city council candidates to ask them questions about housing in Bemidji ahead of the upcoming election.

The candidates discussed a number of solutions to the housing shortage that they believe would best solve the problem.

“I think as a city, we’ve been somewhat restrictive over the last number of years as far as limiting the amount of unrelated people that can be in a unit and limiting the number of units that can be on on a parcel,” stated Ward 3 candidate Mark Dickinson.

“From senior housing to workforce housing to affordable to supportive to senior housing: those needs seem to be popping up in every town,” said current Ward 3 councilor Ron Johnson, who is running for the Ward 1 seat this fall. “Affordable housing is what I’m hearing is the biggest issue.”

Part of last year’s housing study conducted for the City Council showed a very high percentage of single-family rentals in the area.

“One of the reasons why it is a challenge is because one of the common complaints we receive at the city is that renter-occupied properties are not as well cared for as owner-occupied, and that can become a public safety concern,” explained Ward 1 incumbent and candidate Gwenia Fiskevold Gould. “And this can be whether it is a challenging tenant or perhaps, you know, a landlord isn’t making the appropriate investments.”

“I just think we need to be more flexible, more willing to build smaller rental units, even cottages in the backyard for grandma, you know, to be some place for them to receive care and connection to the family, I think that’s a good thing,” said Ward 5 candidate Lynn Eaton.

Some of the candidates, however, don’t view renting as a viable option.

“I cannot understand why anybody would want to rent in this day and age, but I want to challenge the younger groups to have an affordable house: whether it’s reduced property taxes, reduce the barriers to entry,” said Ward 5 candidate Bill Batchelder.

“When you say ‘single-family home,’ that could very well mean one person taking care of every single thing in that home. So it’s easy to say, ‘Well, you should buy a house,'” responded Ward 3 candidate Katie Carter. “Well, when there’s about $14 left in your bank account at the end of every single month, it’s very, very difficult.”

At the end of the forum, every candidate said they would support for the HLA and solicit HLA ideas.

Mayoral candidates were not a part of this forum because at the time of scheduling the event, incumbent Jorge Prince was running unopposed. Candidate Daniel Jourdain announced he was dropping out of the race on September 5th but re-joined the race later that month on the 27th. The HLA could not schedule both candidates in time for this forum.