Minnesota needs a housing plan as big as its crisis

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Nothing else in life goes well for any of us unless we have a safe and stable place to call home.

Despite the foundational importance of a stable home, investment and innovation in housing has long been a blind spot for state government. If the state general fund budget were a gallon of water, we would be directing less than a tablespoon toward housing (0.4%). This persistent underinvestment is one of the compounding factors in a housing crisis that has only worsened since the pandemic.

Working families from Albert Lea to International Falls can't afford their rent. Seniors on a fixed income are being priced out. Today 550,000 Minnesotans pay more than 30% of their income on their homes, meaning they struggle to make ends meet. Hennepin County alone experienced a 250% increase in family homelessness last year and 20,000 evictions were filed statewide, surpassing even pre-pandemic levels.

The collateral consequences of our worsening housing crisis are crippling Minnesotans of all ages and our economy at large. Housing instability leads to worse education outcomes for our students, lower productivity for workers and less social mobility. Our housing crisis is a moral hazard but it's also an economic one. Communities across the state struggle to recruit and retain workers because there simply aren't enough homes.

As chairs of the House and Senate housing committees, we believe that it's time to stop admiring the problem and start making the game-changing investments needed to alter course. We are proposing a road map to solve Minnesota's housing crisis that includes more than $1 billion in sustained biennial investments to create a future where all Minnesotans have access to a safe, stable pace to call home. Here are some highlights of our vision:

End child and youth homelessness by 2030: On any given night nearly 20,000 Minnesotans are homeless — half of them children. How can we expect our kids to be prepared to succeed in school if they don't have a place to sleep at night? It is no wonder that homelessness and high mobility is the most significant risk for academic failure for students, according to a recent study by the University of Minnesota.

Our plan calls for state-based housing vouchers and other forms of direct supports for low-income families so we can stop housing crises before they start, including fast-tracking $100 million in funding for the Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program. We can also prevent displacement of families by preserving our existing naturally occurring affordable housing.

Many states, including Minnesota, have functionally ended veterans' homelessness. If we make a similarly bold policy directive to end homelessness for our youth — and make the public investments to back it up — this goal is within reach.

Cut the racial homeownership gap in half: Systemic racism in housing policy has created one of the country's worst racial gaps in homeownership here in Minnesota. We can close these gaps by building more homes that are affordable and through our innovative down payment assistance initiatives, like our plan to create more than 5,000 new first-generation home buyers.

Supercharge our housing supply: Whether we are talking about ending youth homelessness or cutting racial disparities in housing, a key ingredient is the production and preservation of homes that are affordable. A lot of them.

Right now, Minnesota has a 100,000-unit supply gap of homes that are affordable for lower income Minnesotans. We have gaps in affordable homes to own as well with the lack of available homes driving up the price for everyone. The free market alone has not, and will not, solve this housing shortage.

Sustained and significant public funding that leverages nonprofit and for-profit investment is needed to spur production. Our plan would build and preserve an estimated 150,000 affordable homes, from deeply affordable rental units, preservation of public housing and naturally occurring affordable housing, preservation and creation of manufactured homes, to new affordable homes to own.

Whether we are talking about ending opportunity gaps in our schools, improving health outcomes or the economic bottom-lines for families, all roads lead back to home. Let's make 2023 the year we finally take bold action to solve our state's housing crisis.

Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, is a member of the Minnesota Senate. Mike Howard, DFL-Richfield, is a member of the Minnesota House.