Minnesotans join Smith, AOC in unveiling affordable housing bill

Joined by Minnesota affordable housing groups, Democrats Sen. Tina Smith and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unveiled a bill Wednesday that they say would create more affordable housing across the country.

The “Homes Act” would establish a housing development authority within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that would build and maintain a stock of permanent affordable housing. Smith said housing supply is far behind demand.

“Our proposal would serve renters, and homebuyers alike, providing millions of Americans in rural and urban communities with more options for a quality, affordable place to call home — with the sense of stability, security, comfort and pride that should come with it,” Smith said in a statement.

Her bill would authorize $30 billion in federal spending a year, with 5% of that set aside for tribal communities and at least 10% for rural communities, along with a revolving loan fund. Noah Hobbs, the strategy and policy director of One Roof Community Housing in Duluth, said the rural requirement will especially help in greater Minnesota.

“Oftentimes when bills get made either in St. Paul or D.C., they leave out greater Minnesota or greater America,” he said. “This rural set aside is really huge in helping us do more work than what we’re already doing. So we’re doing about, on average, 20 homes a year, either acquisition rehab or new construction. And so we’re hoping that this will help accelerate that.”

He said he thinks the bill will help not only in Duluth, but also in places like Floodwood, Grand Marais, Grand Rapids and smaller municipalities between Duluth and larger cities.

Research from New York University, University of California at Berkley and the Climate and Community Institute estimates that the bill could build and preserve 1.25 million housing units, which would include about 875,000 units for low income households, according to a joint memo from Smith and Ocasio-Cortez’s offices on the bill.

The bill would also help local communities address housing needs by helping to finance real estate acquisition or conveying property to public housing authorities, nonprofits, local governments, community land trusts and tenant or resident owned cooperatives, the memo continues.

Mikeya Griffin, executive director of Rondo Community Land Trust, said the bill would benefit community land trusts in Minnesota like hers.

Griffin said the bill, along with other investments, could potentially help solve Ramsey County’s shortage of 15,000 affordable homes.

“What it does is actually give us the opportunity to build more than 500 homes a year collectively to maybe 5,000 homes a year, collectively, if not more, across the state of Minnesota,” Griffin said of the bill.