Council awards are part of a broader $50 million collaboration with housing advocates
The Metropolitan Council approved $2.5 million in Livable Communities fund awards to seven affordable housing developments in the metro area. The grants will help create and preserve more than 250 affordable homes and leverage $82 million in other public and private investment.
Council officials say these projects help close the massive gap between the region’s need for affordable housing and the supply of affordable housing. They also support the Council’s efforts to encourage and invest in a variety of housing choices to serve an increasingly diverse population and viable options for low- and very-low income families.
“The best way to lift up our communities is to ensure that all residents, all families have the security of a home that’s safe and affordable, where they and their loved ones can thrive and prosper,” said Council Chair Alene Tchourumoff. “It’s the smartest investment we can make in the places where we live and the region we call home.”
Most of the investment goes towards multifamily rental housing, including a $1 million grant for Maya Commons, new apartments serving working families as well as those experiencing long-term homelessness.
The grants also support opportunities for affordable home ownership.
Grants support affordable housing options
Investment in multifamily rental housing
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Galway Place Townhomes, Coon Rapids: $200,000 to support rehabilitation of the existing property and 36 apartments.
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Cahill Place Apartments, Inver Grove Heights: $565,000 toward 40 new permanent supportive housing apartments, with some of the housing set aside for homeless families and families at risk of becoming homeless.
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Emma’s Place, Maplewood: $182,467 for the rehabilitation of permanent supportive housing townhomes. This housing specifically addresses the needs of homeless families, with a single parent and three or more children.
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Maya Commons, Minneapolis: $1,062,133 toward 50 new homes serving working families, as well as adults and youth experiencing long-term homelessness. The development will reuse the historic Bunge Tower as a shared lobby/entrance and community space.
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Mino Bimaadiziwin, Minneapolis: $344,700 toward new construction of a 109-home, mixed-use development near the Franklin Avenue Metro Blue Line Station.
Single-family housing for ownership
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Irving—Near North Infill Development, Minneapolis: $35,700 to help redevelop five city-owned vacant lots across several city blocks. The new homes are targeted toward larger families.
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Homes within Reach, West Metro Cities: $110,000 to help the West Hennepin Affordable Housing Land Trust program acquire, rehabilitate, and resell four single-family homes. The land trust will operate in the cities of Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Deephaven, Edina, Eden Prairie, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, New Hope, Richfield, St. Louis Park, and Wayzata.
Affordable housing is just one of the funding goals of the Livable Communities program. Since the program became law in 1995, the Council has approved grants totaling more than $375 million to assist projects that have created or retained more than 52,000 jobs, cleaned up 2,300 acres of polluted property for redevelopment, created or preserved nearly 22,000 affordable homes, and leveraged billions in additional public and private funds.
Collaboration makes it possible
The Council collaborated with Minnesota Housing and the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund to solicit, evaluate, and recommend requests for funding. Together, the funding partners will award more than $50 million toward new and preservation of multifamily rental housing and home ownership opportunities in the metro area.
“This integrated solicitation and evaluation of the project proposals help to avoid duplication among the agencies and streamlines the process,” said Tchourumoff. “And, it helps to ensure that those of us who do this work are doing so collaboratively for a better outcome.”
See information on how the Council calculates affordable housing need in the region