City/Town: Minnetonka

Legislative District: Senate District 49

Party: Republican Party of Minnesota

Candidate responses in italics.

Q1: Housing plays a critical role in economic stability, health, and quality of life for individuals and families. However, disparities in housing continue to affect communities of color, people with disabilities, rural communities, and other historically underserved populations. What meaningful actions should be taken to acknowledge, address, and eliminate housing inequities and advance housing opportunities for all Minnesotans?

The single biggest driver of housing inequity in Minnesota is supply, and supply is constrained by cost, including the property tax bill on the house next door, and by permitting timelines, fees, and land-use rules. Where I differ from a top-down approach: Zoning and permitting decisions belong with the cities and communities closest to them, not a statewide mandate handed down from St. Paul. Eden Prairie and Minnetonka aren’t Duluth or Rochester, and they shouldn’t be forced into identical zoning outcomes by state statute. What state government can do without overriding local authority is get its own house in order: Ensure down-payment assistance and housing-stability dollars are transparent and independently audited so they actually reach the families they’re meant for, rather than administrative overhead. Housing equity isn’t solved by state mandates replacing local judgment. It’s solved by making sure the dollars already committed are spent honestly and effectively.

Q2: Supportive housing combines affordable housing with support services that help people who face the most complex challenges to live with stability, autonomy, and dignity. Supportive housing provides better outcomes and is fiscally responsible. What will you do to ensure community members who are unhoused or unstably housed receive the support they need to obtain or keep their own homes?

Minnesota has paid for supportive housing and then failed to police it. Investigations have found weak enforcement even where people were hurt in licensed programs the state already funds. I will not vote to grow that system on the same honor system. Where housing-plus-services is cheaper than the emergency room and the dollars can be audited, including through the inspector general, I will support it. I will not pretend a press release is oversight.

Q3: Homeownership is a way to build generational wealth, provide family and household stability, and support community vibrancy. More and more Minnesotans are priced out of owning a home because of rising housing costs, including purchase price, homeowners’ insurance, and property taxes. What steps will you take to increase opportunities for renters and first-time homebuyers to purchase homes, condos, or cooperative ownership models?

Rising purchase prices and property taxes are pricing working families and seniors out of homes they could once afford. On property taxes specifically, this is a spending problem as much as a housing problem: Minnesota’s state budget has grown 128% since 2011, nearly 60% even after inflation, while population grew just 9%. That gap shows up directly on every homeowner’s tax bill. I’d push to bring state spending growth back in line with what families can actually afford, expand proven down-payment assistance programs, and reduce construction-cost overhead and state fees that add tens of thousands of dollars to every starter home built. Cities that want to set faster permitting timelines of their own should be free to do so.

Q4: In the last several years, bipartisan action to streamline building of new homes and apartments has passed in several states, including: allowing for multifamily buildings in select commercial areas, limiting parking requirements, allowing smaller homes on smaller lots, and more homes per lot in residential areas like duplexes, fourplexes, and accessory dwelling units. What reforms do you support to modernize zoning to both enable homes to be more affordable statewide and improve city tax bases?

I am for more homes on infrastructure that already exists, duplexes, ADUs, reuse of commercial space, when the city chooses it. I will not vote for a statewide template that tells Eden Prairie or Minnetonka they must accept the same missing-middle rules as every other municipality. What the state can do is get out of the way of cities that want faster permits and fewer one-size parking rules, and stop adding fees that make a starter unit more expensive. Growing the tax base only works if the neighborhood that has to live with the building still has a say.

Q5: Despite housing being the largest cost in the average household budget, housing receives only a small fraction of the total state budget at just 0.3%. A lack of ongoing reliable funding for housing in Minnesota’s state budget has resulted in an undersupply of stable homes affordable to our workforce, our elders, and our families. In recent years, a constitutional amendment for housing, which would dedicate revenues from a sales tax increase to housing, has gained momentum at the legislature. What revenue options will you champion to more adequately meet our need for reliable funding for homes we can afford?

I oppose a constitutional sales tax increase for housing. Sales taxes are regressive, and raising the cost of everyday goods to fund housing programs works against the very families struggling with affordability. Minnesota doesn’t have a revenue shortage, it has a spending-priority and accountability problem. The state budget has grown 128% since 2011. Before asking taxpayers for more, the Legislature should be able to show, through genuine independent audits, that existing dollars are being spent effectively. Minnesota’s new Office of Inspector General has real subpoena power, but its enforcement division doesn’t start until 2028. I’d push to move that date up so oversight of existing spending, including housing programs, starts now.

Q6: If you have other housing policy priorities, especially specific to your district’s housing needs, please share them here.

SD49’s housing pressure shows up on the property tax bill notice. Hennepin County has modeled a 7 to 9 percent hike. Minnetonka staff have talked 6.8 percent for 2027. That is a spending and aid problem as much as a housing problem. What I would do here is more homes on infrastructure that already exists if the city wants them, including near the Southwest LRT, options that let seniors stay in place without a new construction subsidy, and the same audit rule for housing-stability dollars that I would apply to any other program. Eden Prairie and Minnetonka should not get a statewide template.