Twin Cities Housing Advocate Maeve Olson speaks at a DFL Press Conference Tuesday Afternoon (via MNHouseInfo on YouTube)
Minnesota Democrats unveiled a $3 billion dollar proposal to expand access to permanent housing Tuesday afternoon.
The All Roads Lead Back to Home proposal is a bold plan to invest in housing and rental assistance, including the creation of the state’s first rental assistance voucher program.
“During the pandemic, emergency rental assistance kept people in their homes in challenging times, Housing and Homeless prevention committee Chair Sen. Lindsey Port said. “These programs have ended, but the gap between wages and the cost of housing has not closed.”
The proposal dedicates $1 billion in housing construction bonds to build affordable homes, $1 billion in emergency funding for programs fighting homelessness, and $1 billion annually aimed at solving the homeless crisis.
The proposal is on top of a $50 million dollar proposal in emergency rental assistance that is moving through committees now. DFL House Rep. Micheal Howard said that evictions are skyrocketing to pre-pandemic levels, but the state has not made housing a priority.
“It is time we stop admiring the crisis before us and start proposing bold, visionary solutions to meet the challenges facing Minnesotans,” Rep. Howard said.
Howard said the All Roads Lead Back to Home proposal is going to “supercharge” Minnesota’s housing supply, building and restoring over 150,000 homes.
“State funding housing vouchers bring transformative life changing stability to families and individuals,” Maeve Olson, a Twin Cities housing advocate said. “Housing vouchers work.”
Howard said that the proposal will be the “most transformational thing we’ve ever done to end child poverty” in state history.