ST. PAUL — The state of Minnesota is directing $350 million to housing developments that will create and preserve 4,700 affordable homes, apartments and manufactured home lots, the agency announced Friday.
Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota received $3 million for projects in 50 Minnesota counties, including Blue Earth, Le Sueur, Nicollet, Watonwan and Waseca counties.
The city of Mankato received about $900,000 for its community land trust to assist in developing new and remodeled housing.
Vista Villa manufactured home development in Waseca received $550,000 and El Nuevo Amanecer manufactured home park in Gaylord received $1.2 million.
It’s the largest slate of projects supported in a single year by Minnesota Housing, a result of the Legislature’s prodigious investment in housing that passed earlier this year. The funding is one way the state is trying to address a housing shortage that has placed affordable homes and rentals out of reach for many low- and middle-income Minnesotans.
Minnesota needs more than 100,000 more affordable rental units in order to meet the needs of extremely low income renters, who are largely elderly, disabled or single caregivers, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The funds will be distributed in the form of deferred loans for single-family homes and apartment projects, and grants for manufactured home communities.
Around $275 million was appropriated by the Legislature; the rest comes from other funding sources, including the federal government, said Minnesota Housing spokesperson Jill Mazullo.
The $350 million does not include housing tax credits, which are also part of the affordable housing incentive packages the state hands out to developers.
The Legislature also passed a quarter cent increase in the metro sales tax this year, dedicated to housing projects in the metro area and statewide rental assistance.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan announced the investments at a community center in Golden Valley, just a couple miles from the St. Louis Park apartment her family moved into using a Section 8 housing voucher when she was a baby, she said.
The funding will go towards:
28 multifamily rental properties — 13 in the Twin Cities metro and 15 in greater Minnesota, some of which will serve seniors, people with disabilities or people who have experienced homelessness;
278 new single-family homes and 398 rehabilitated houses;
Infrastructure projects in manufactured home communities, including storm shelters, water and sewer upgrades and electrical work.
This story first appeared at minnesotareformer.com
View more information about individual projects at https://www.mnhousing.gov/requests-for-proposals/project-selections.html