Capitol Connect

With just a few work days left this legislative session, now is our last shot to make sure that Minnesota's legislative leadership and Governor Dayton commit substantial bonding funds to housing. With homelessness on the rise and one-quarter of the state's renters paying over half of their income for housing, we cannot afford to miss this opportunity.

Whether or not you have taken action so far this year, I ask you to take a few moments to contact Governor Dayton, legislative leadership, and your own legislators to let them know that you support bonding for housing. MHP's action alerts make it easy to get a message, fax or phone call out, but you must do the clicking!

Last week, the possibility that a bonding agreement could be reached by the end of session became even murkier. The Minnesota House of Representatives has not been able to pull together a public works (including housing) bonding bill that builds enough consensus for passage, stalling the usual process for reaching a final bonding agreement. Legislative leadership and the Governor have now entered into negotiations that will determine the final amount of an overall bonding bill, along with the outcome of other high profile bills such as the Vikings Stadium and tax reform measures.

After bonds for housing were left out of last summer's bonding bill, housing and homeless organizations and the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency have been determined to work together to make bonding for housing a top priority at the Minnesota Legislature this year. As the end of session draws near, advocates are hopeful that their hard work together will pay off.

The Minnesota Housing Partnership hopes you will join Habitat at the Capitol to ask State Legislators to help us build Homes for All! Communities and families are facing hardships not seen in generations. Our work can go farther if our elected officials understand how hard we work to revitalize neighborhoods and create housing opportunities for those who have too often been overlooked.