Last week, over lunch at El Mercado Central on Lake Street in Minneapolis, Jovita Morales shared insights about her work and the housing challenges community members face every day. Morales is the Policy and Advocacy Community Organizer at Pillsbury United Communities, and serves on the steering committee of the Housing Justice League, a coalition of The Alliance.
“I’ve had the chance to organize—last year on benefits cliff issues and with communities across Minneapolis, predominantly Somali and Oromo, Native American, Hispanic, and African American people. One thing I’ve found is that across different cultures there are unique challenges—and also many commonalities,” she says. When it comes to housing, those commonalities are clear: everyone is struggling to find an affordable place to live.
For Native families, she explains, “housing is hard because they’re often not getting hired, or they’re being paid so little that it’s not enough to make rent, and it’s hard not to slip into homelessness.” Still, she adds, many continue to dream of and pursue homeownership. Families with refugee status may initially find housing, but often deal with overcrowding, poor conditions, or a lack of information about opportunities to buy homes. African American families also face barriers to homeownership due to limited affordable options. “For the Hispanic community, especially those who have just arrived, it’s incredibly difficult to support their families. Not having papers is a huge barrier,” Morales says. This lack of income and opportunity often leads to several families sharing one home—and to others selling food on the street to make ends meet.
Morales emphasizes that dignified work and stable housing are deeply interconnected. In 2024, she helped create a Minneapolis ordinance expanding access to licenses for food vendors, offering more income opportunities for immigrant families. “We worked closely with immigrant food vendors to pass that ordinance—we didn’t do it for them, we did it with them,” she explains. “That builds awareness, an understanding of the difficulties of passing policy, and also helps them understand their rights as immigrants.”
For Morales, organizing is about more than policy wins—it’s about building community power. “We try to go beyond passing policy, and get community involved,” she says.
When asked about the changes she wants to see, Morales doesn’t hesitate: “Elected officials at the state, county, and local level must listen to the people. But they should also be bold enough to move beyond listening and take action. How many more years, how many more decades, are they going to keep telling us they hear us, without taking action?”
As part of the Housing Justice League, Morales is organizing to pass the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)—a policy that would give renters the first chance to buy their building if a landlord decides to sell. She’s frustrated by the delays: “Why don’t they implement the policy? If it doesn’t work perfectly, it can always be adapted. It’s better than doing nothing.”
Looking ahead, Morales says collaboration is critical: “City Councilmembers should be working together to address the problems faced by residents across Minneapolis. Creating affordable housing is one of the goals I hear families demanding. There must be more resources so that families can apply for housing support from the city, and they must be inclusive of people from many cultures and immigration statuses. We need proactive support.”