Cities and townships that participate in the Livable Communities Act program are eligible for funding to clean up polluted sites for redevelopment, create affordable housing, and link different land uses with transportation. The program is voluntary and provides incentives that leverage partnerships and resources to help communities achieve their regional and local goals.
Housing choice vouchers assist households with low incomes to find affordable rental housing in the private market. Metro HRA administers 6,500 housing vouchers throughout Anoka, Carver, and most of suburban Hennepin and Ramsey counties.
The Met Council allocates state and regional funding to buy land and develop facilities for regional parks and trails. We also distribute state funding for the overall operation and maintenance of the parks system and for some parks programming. Our key partners are the 10 park agencies in the seven-county metro area that operate regional parks and trails.
Through our Transportation Advisory Board, we help fund locally initiated highway, road, transit, pedestrian, bicycle, and other transportation projects. We allocate about $200 million in federal transportation funds for these purposes every two years.
We allocate state funding to cities and townships to reduce the amount of groundwater and stormwater runoff that makes its way into the wastewater system. We provide grants to local governments for water conservation efforts and innovative stormwater management projects. And we support industries that undertake onsite wastewater treatment.