More work to do at the Capitol!

Guest blog by Rebecca Lucero, 
Twin Cities Habitat Staff Member 

Thank you, Housing Heroes, for all your hard work to generate bipartisan support for bonds for housing this legislative session. As session ended with a flurry of action late Sunday night, ultimately no bonding bill was passed. We are disappointed and concerned for our state because we know that Minnesotan communities cannot wait – these funds for housing are needed today!

Home means so many different things to each of us. Tell our leaders in the legislature that Home is a priority and we cannot wait!

With valuable investments left on the table, everyone is talking about the possibility of a special session to pass a bonding bill. If that happens, we need to let our legislators know that $90 million in bonds for housing is a priority. This investment translates to 50 local construction projects, serves 3,500 Minnesota households, and generates an estimated $125 million in private and federal investments to our communities. We can’t wait – tell our leaders that we need to invest in bonds for housing now! 

We do have one thing to celebrate! As you may recall, earlier in the session, we faced a cut of $5 million in the House budget for the Challenge Fund. Housing Heroes spoke up immediately about how these funds are essential to Habitat affiliates across Minnesota. As session came to a close, the full $5 million was restored thanks to your hard work! We couldn’t have done it without you.

Thank you for ensuring we did not walk away from this session with cuts to housing. Now, let’s make sure we secure additional funds too. We cannot wait!