$100M to be invested in affordable housing in Minnesota

The Habitat Heroes are proof that heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Armed only with facts about the communal benefits of investing in affordable housing, and dressed in campy (but cool) green superhero T-shirts, our advocates descended on the Capitol and helped convince lawmakers to approve $100M in bonds directed towards housing projects. Literally thousands of Minnesota families will benefit from this great win. The money will mean fewer homeless families, safer apartment  buildings, more construction jobs, and better neighborhoods filled with stable homeowners.

Thank you to everyone who helped get this done!

Even though the $100M is the largest total Minnesota lawmakers have ever decided to invest in the area of affordable housing (they approved $37.5M in 2012), it won't address all the challenges lower-income Minnesotans face. The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency will be responsible for assigning $80M worth of the funds but it got requests totaling more than $233M. So there's still plenty of work to do in the future. Don't believe us? Check out these 10 alarming Minnesota housing stats.

1. An estimated 14,000 Minnesotans are experiencing homelessness on any given night
2. 8,300 school children are homeless in Minnesota's largest four school districts
3. Rents have increased by 7% each of the past two years (far outpacing inflation and wage growth)
4. The average rent in the Twin Cities is now more than $1,000/month
5. The vacancy rate for Twin Cities apartments with rents below $1,000/month is just 2.2%
6. A minimum wage worker must work 90+ hours/week to be able to comfortably afford the average Twin Cities apartment
7. Nearly 4,800 families were evicted in Minnesota in the first three months of 2014
8. 12% of Minnesota households must put more than half of their money towards housing each month
9. Homes in parts of North Minneapolis and St. Paul's Eastside lost 50-60% of their value during the housing crisis
10. The homeownership rate for non-whites in St. Paul fell from 43% to 25% during the housing crisis

All of this information, and a whole bunch more is available on the Minnesota Housing Partnership website.

We need more Housing Heroes! If you can type, talk or text you can have your voice heard and be a part of advocating for affordable housing and Minnesota families. Start by simply signing a petition.