2020 State Legislative Priorities

Bonds for Housing Addresses Minnesota’s Affordable Housing Crisis

Where we call home affects the groceries we buy, where we send our kids to school and how we thrive in our community. At every stage of life, where we live is the foundation for our health, education, safety, and economic wellbeing.

To make our communities strong, we must ensure that all Minnesota families are able to find, afford and maintain safe, healthy housing.

  • Currently, more than 1 in 4 Minnesota families have to sacrifice other needs like food and medicine to pay for rising housing costs.
  • One out of every four families in Minnesota pays more than they can afford for housing, this number has increased by 58 percent since 2000.
  • The cost of housing is rising much faster than wages for too many working families–even many with two full-time wage earners–can’t afford to buy or rent decent housing.

GO Bonds for Public Housing Rehabilitation Preserves This Community Asset

Minnesota NAHRO seeks $100 million in general obligation bonds to finance public housing rehabilitation projects. GO Bonds for Public Housing Rehab will preserve and improve public housing that is a critical community asset, providing stable homes for our most vulnerable residents, including seniors, children and those with disabilities.  This proposal will help create jobs in the residential construction sector by funding rehabilitation projects for the state’s aging public housing system.

  • Public housing in Minnesota provides safe and affordable housing to 21,000 low income households including 64% which are headed by seniors or those with disabilities. One third of public housing residents are children, many of whom are at high risk of homelessness or recently homeless
  • In the last four funding cycles of the POHP, $45.5 million has been granted for the rehabilitation impacting 5,232 publicly owned units.  This represents only one quarter (24.2%) of the Immediate Critical Needs investment identified.
  • Based on the March 2019 report, public housing has Total Immediate Critical Needs of $187,689,430 or $16,790 per unit.
  • GO bonds proceeds will be used to address health and safety issues, replace and repair major systems and for energy conservation measures to reduce operating costs of public housing unites owned and operated by the 121 local housing authorities across the state.

Housing Infrastructure Bonds Builds Homes, Strong Communities & Local Economies

Minnesota NAHRO seeks $200 million in housing infrastructure bonds (HIB) to finance affordable housing. Housing Infrastructure Bonds are a vital tool that provides housing of all types across the state, while also creating jobs, economic development and stability for our most vulnerable populations, including seniors, children, and those with disabilities. HIB produce:

  • rental homes in communities across the state that are affordable to working families;
  • create permanent supportive housing for Minnesotans experiencing or at risk of homelessness,
  • promote land acquisitions for single family homeownership.
  • In 2019, Minnesota Housing awarded funding for 74 projects, representing more than 2,665 homes that were ready for development. Bonding resources make it possible for critical projects to move from the drawing board to breaking ground and leveraged $572 million in total development costs.

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