Minneapolis Public Housing Authority completes sprinkler installation at all 42 high-rises

Unit by unit, floor by floor, appointment after appointment, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority staff worked around tenants to build a warren of sprinklers in the ceilings of every high-rise building in its portfolio.

Federal law has required automatic fire suppression systems in new public housing high-rises since 1992, but the vast majority of MPHA’s high-rises, constructed in the 1960s and 70s, were exempt.

As a result, when a 2019 blaze engulfed the 25-story Cedar High Apartments, there were no sprinklers to put out the fire, and five people died. The following year, MPHA set a goal to install fire suppression at all its outdated high-rises by the end of 2025.

This summer, the last sprinkler was screwed into the last building that still needed them: the four-story Sibley Triangle Manor in northeast Minneapolis. On Monday morning, a small army of elected officials, public housing workers and tenants gathered on the front lawn of Dickman Park Apartments — another building in Northeast that was recently completed — to celebrate what MPHA CEO Abdi Warsame called a “bittersweet” milestone.

“That snowy November day, I remember vividly the scene in the aftermath of the fire that claimed the lives of five residents,” Warsame said. “You could feel the heaviness, you could feel the grief in the air as emergency vehicle lights illuminated our neighborhood. My heart remains with those who also lost friends, family and neighbors.”

MPHA considers all of its buildings that are denser than its scattered-site family housing to be “high-rises.” In 2020 only 16 of MPHA’s 42 high-rises had fire suppression systems. Upgrading all the others a year early was made possible by funding at almost every level of government including $14 million from MPHA since 2020; $3.35 million from the city of Minneapolis; $2.4 million from Minnesota Housing, the state’s housing finance agency; and $2 million direct federal appropriation.

Elected officials who had contributed to fundraising efforts for the sprinklers in attendance Monday included Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley.

“Across the city residents share a certain kinship with each other,” said Mary McGovern, a public housing tenant and president of the Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council. “When something tragic happens in one building, we are all impacted by it one way or the other. Likewise, we share our collective sense of relief and peace of mind knowing that our apartment, our buildings, our neighbors, ourselves, are safer from the threat of fire.”

The cost of deferred maintenance across MPHA’s portfolio has grown to $260 million this year, said MPHA spokesperson Drew Halunen, up about $30 million from last year. In contrast, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated about $20 million a year to MPHA for the past two years.