Agenda - Council Work Session - 02/27/2018

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Housing & Economic Development funding, financial incentives and initiatives to assist local governments and developers to support affordable housing and housing appropriate for people at all stages of life. State funding is a major and necessary component for the provision of housing. Current resource levels are insufficient to meet the spectrum of needs in the metropolitan region and across the state. Primarily through programs administered by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA), the state establishes the general direction and prioritization of housing issues, and financially supports a variety of housing, including transitional housing, supportive housing, senior housing, workforce housing and family housing. The state must continue to be an active partner in addressing life cycle and affordable housing needs. Workforce housing is generally defined as housing that supports economic development and job growth and is affordable to the local workforce. A statewide program, administered through the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, supports workforce homeownership efforts in the metropolitan area. State policies and funding should recognize that affordable housing options that are accessible to jobs and meet the needs of a city's workforce,. are important to the economic competitiveness of cities and the metro region. In addition, significant housing related racial disparities persist in Minnesota, especially as it relates to the percentage of households of color who pay more than 30 percent of their income in housing costs, and as it relates to the significant disparity gap in homeownership rates. Metro Cities supports: • Increased state funding for programs that support life cycle, workforce and affordable housing; address homeownership disparities; address foreclosure mitigation; and support senior, transitional and emergency housing for the metro region; • A state match for local and regional housing trust fund investments and local policies in support of affordable housing. State funds should be issued on a timeline that works with a city's budget process; • Private sector funding for workforce housing; • Housing programs that assist housing development, preservation and maintenance of existing housing stock, including unsubsidized, naturally occurring affordable housing that is affordable to residents throughout the low -to -moderate income range; • Housing programs designed to develop market rate housing in census blocks with emerging or high concentrations of poverty, where the private market might not otherwise invest, as a means of reconciling affordable housing with community development goals; • Continuing the policy of using the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency's investment earnings for housing programs; • City input into state legislation and administrative policies regarding distribution of tax credits and tax exempt bonding; 2018 Legislative Policies 24