Historic state funding propels several central Minnesota housing projects

Several central Minnesota housing projects will see a funding boost from the state's agency, Minnesota Housing, which announced $350 million to preserve and build more than 4,700 units of housing in the state — the largest slate of development projects ever approved by the organization.

The investments will fund improvements on existing units and the construction of new housing, including rental properties, according to Jennifer Leimaile Ho, Minnesota Housing commissioner.

Statewide, 875 new rental units will be built and about 600 units renovated. The organization also approved 78 projects to support homeownership, including about 280 new construction projects and 600 rehabilitation projects.

Minnesota Housing also doubled its funding over last year for manufactured homes, with the $21.5 million allocated to be used for infrastructure projects, storm shelter construction, and road and sidewalk improvements.

Projects in central Minnesota include apartments in Little Falls (The Views on 7th) and Waite Park (Vue Pointe Apartments), funding for Habitat for Humanity projects in St. Cloud, Cold Spring and the surrounding counties, and funding for manufactured home parks in Alexandria (Emerald Pines Cooperative), Little Falls (Suburban Mobile Home Park) and Sauk Rapids (Fischer's Garden).

"This year we're seeing a lot of new collaborative partnerships among the developers," Ho said in a release. "It's exciting to see the industry open up to new women-owned businesses and firms led by people of color. And we're grateful to our many longstanding partners who helped advocate for this year's investments and continue to do great work in the community."

Ho said the projects are expected to contribute to $800 million in total development costs and support 7,000 jobs.