City of Minnetonka Home Loan Program Evaluation

Report completed by students enrolled in OLPD 8595: Evaluation Problems, taught by Dr. Jean King in spring 2013.This project was completed as part of the 2012-2013 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with the City of Minnetonka. The Minnetonka Home Enhancement Program (MHEP) is a housing rehabilitation program that was established in 2011 to assist low- to medium-income residents to make improvements to their homes. Since the beginning of MHEP, only one housing rehabilitation loan has been executed. Minnetonka project lead and community development supervisor Elise Durbin worked with a Ph.D. student in OLPD 8595: Evaluation Problems, to conduct an evaluation of the program using surveys and phone interviews with MHEP applicants to determine why the program was not being used. Based on this analysis, the student provided recommendations related to program promotion, administration, and logistics. The student's final report is available.This project was supported by the Resilient Communities Project (RCP), a program at the University of Minnesota whose mission is to connect communities in Minnesota with U of MN faculty and students to advance local sustainability and resilience through collaborative, course-based projects. RCP is a program of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA). More information at http://www.rcp.umn.edu