2050 Housing Policy Plan
Metropolitan Council Community Development
The Metropolitan Council is updating its long-range Housing Policy Plan to help the region plan for future development and housing needs. In 2015, the Met Council adopted the current 2040 Housing Policy Plan, the first in nearly 30 years, to assist local communities in planning for and creating options that give people of all income and life stages viable choices for safe, stable, and affordable homes. The updated 2050 Housing Policy Plan will be adopted in February 2025.
Planning for the future of our region’s housing
The Housing Policy Plan is the Met Council’s guiding document to implementing housing policy. The plan addresses housing challenges that impact the region as a whole and strives to provide innovative strategies to collaboratively undertake the complex housing issues of the region’s future. Local governments play a vital role in implementing regional policy goals and priorities within their local housing markets in ways that best suit their communities. Taking a regional, integrated approach to housing policy, the Housing Policy Plan will cover both statutory responsibilities and local opportunities to cultivate safe, affordable, and secure housing opportunities for the future of the region.
Timeline and community engagement
Policy research and community engagement informs our approach to drafting and adoption of housing policy. Through 2025, we will continue to research, draft, and gather feedback for the plan. Met Council staff started engagement with community organizations and residents via interactive community exchange sessions in Fall 2023.
Housing Policy Plan Technical Advisory Group
The initial community engagement was followed by more topic-specific sessions with a Housing Policy Plan Technical Advisory Group. These engagement meetings provided an opportunity for Met Council staff to share proposed policy and to listen to residents, local government partners, developers, and community organizations about the complex housing concerns that should be addressed in this plan.
Through 2023, we engaged Met Council members, partner organizations, and residents with the work. In early 2024, Met Council staff formally began drafting the plan. Public comment and finalization of the 2050 draft policy plan is happening in late 2024. The Met Council considers adopting the plan February 12, 2025.
Policy themes
The Housing Policy Plan provides foundations for innovative strategies and policies that guide local communities to provide necessary housing opportunities to meet current and projected local and regional housing needs. While some of these policies and topics are already part of the 2040 Housing Policy plan, several policy topics have emerged over the course of the last decade as important to our region's housing needs. The Metropolitan Council has begun conducting research and engagement to further explore the following policy areas deeper for the future of our region: