ST PAUL, Minn. — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is bringing his vision for more affordable housing in the city to the state capitol.
After testifying before the Senate Committee on Housing and Homelessness Prevention Friday, he held a press conference highlighting strides made since taking office in 2018 and making what he calls a historic announcement about the future of the city's public housing stock.
"Affordable housing has been a top priority," Frey said. "We have seen a five-fold increase in the amount of deeply affordable, low-income housing that we're producing on an annual basis … and still, it's not enough."
The mayor is asking lawmakers to advance SF 1899, a bill that would give a one-time appropriation of $45 million to the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, allowing it to rehabilitate, preserve, and equip more than 700 deeply affordable family housing units.
"$45 million to do that kind of capital backlog, address the deferred maintenance specifically for our scattered site production," the mayor explained.
He also announced the city is getting unprecedented support through a new multijurisdictional group. According to a city press release, the Public Housing Preservation and Expansion Convening "will be comprised of private partners and local, regional, state and federal officials focused on finding new strategies to preserve and expand public and deeply affordable housing."
"Public housing in the City of Minneapolis and truly nationwide has been underfunded by the federal government for generations," Frey said. "So today, we are very proud to announce an important convening … We have the political will right now at the federal level. We have city and county partners that are willing to step up."
If passed, the $45 million would be the largest non-federal funding ever delivered to MPHA. This state funding is expected to benefit 3,100 residents already living in the homes today as well as an estimated 3,800 families to come over the next 30 years.
"85 percent [of residents are] Black, African-American, majority of them seniors," MPHA executive director and CEO Abdi Warsame said. "If we want to address racial inequality, if we want to address historic inequality, the way we do it is through housing and addressing this housing stock."
MPHA says restoring the 700 deeply affordable family housing units would take about 10 years.
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