A State and City Policy Update

This campaign is designed to help plug the expected gap in Federal HUD Continuum of Care money previously discussed here. Both Executive Director Jessie Hendel and Director of Development Craig Freeman are involved in weekly planning/strategy meetings with these other providers as we work to ensure the future of supportive housing in Minnesota.   

On Thursday, March 26, the Minnesota State Senate passed HF3425 in a bipartisan manner 39-28. This bill changes some statutory language to allow the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to use $9 million in unspent funds to help plug the expected funding gap. As HF3425 previously passed the House, in a bipartisan vote of 103-31, the bill now goes to Governor Walz for signature. This bill is the second step in the Sustain the Gain campaign Alliance is working on with other Minnesota supportive housing providers.   

Sustain the Gain first worked to fill the CoC funding shortfall with obtaining millions of dollars in philanthropic support, then moved through this second stage, and now turns to a larger one time ask of $40 million in a supplemental budget. Earlier in March, Governor Walz released a proposed supplemental budget that includes a total of $100 million for housing. Of this, $33 million is recommended to go toward supportive housing. Alliance thanks Governor Walz for understanding the importance of supportive housing and asks the legislature to do him one better and dedicate $40 million. Once these temporary funds are in order, we will turn our attention to an ongoing solution to the CoC funding issue. 

Sustain the Gain is not the only policy issue Alliance is currently involved in, however. 

On March 4, Jessie Hendel gave testimony to a House committee about Housing Infrastructure Bonds (HIBs). HIBs are a vital tool in funding the construction of affordable housing by organizations like Alliance and are included in the biannual bonding bill that will come out of this legislative session. Jessie’s testimony focused on how Alliance used HIBs to remodel the building that is now the 59 homes at Kyle Garden Square. 

Other important housing bills being discussed at the Legislature this session include a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution to create a 3/8 of 1% sales tax increase to create an ongoing housing fund (HF3279 and SF2621) and a bill to change zoning rules making it easier for affordable housing projects to move forward (HF3895 and SF4123). Alliance is not actively working on passage of these bills but does support them. 

Policy isn’t confined to the state level, though, and Alliance recently took a position, along with 10 other local affordable housing nonprofits, on the proposed extension of the eviction notice period in the City of Minneapolis. The proposal to extend the notice period from 30 to 60 days was made with the stated goal of helping Minneapolis neighbors keep their housing after income disruptions caused by the ICE occupation.   

It may surprise many readers, but the position taken by the 11 providers was in opposition to the extension. The reason for our opposition was quite simply because an extension would produce worse outcomes for the people we all serve. It is a little known fact that to access emergency rental assistance from counties, at $9.6 million in Hennepin County this year counties are the largest source of assistance despite the tremendous response we’ve seen to mutual aid requests, an eviction action must have already been filed. There are times when we at Alliance are forced to file eviction actions simply so residents can access these funds. Extending the notice period by a month means that instead of a renter owing 2 or 3 months’ rent when an action is filed it would now be 3 or 4. Emergency rental assistance funds simply do not have the money to help when everyone needs an extra month of rent. Plus, these programs generally only fund about 50% of the amount due, leaving the rest up to the renter. The people served by our organizations are not going to be able to afford 50% of another month of rent. Accordingly, we support an increase to governmental emergency rental assistance funds. To see more about this position, please read this joint Op Ed in the Star Tribune.  

As you can see, it’s a busy time at Alliance on the policy front. If you have any questions or would like more information, please let us know! We’re happy to have these conversations.