City/Town: East Grand Forks

Legislative District: House District 1B

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party

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?

I have lived the difference between not knowing where you will sleep and having a home that gives you a foundation to build from. I have also experienced how poverty, a criminal record, limited resources and complicated systems can create barriers that make finding and keeping housing much harder. Those barriers do not disappear simply because someone is working to change their life.

Housing inequity is not just about how many homes we have. It is about who can access them, who can afford to stay, who gets support navigating the system, and who gets a real opportunity to build stability and wealth.

We need to invest in affordable and accessible housing, homelessness prevention, preservation, rural housing and pathways to ownership, along with strong education and peer support. But we also need to change how we develop these solutions.

We should build the table with the people most affected. That means bringing renters, people who have experienced homelessness, homeowners, people with disabilities, Tribal communities, housing providers, landlords, local governments and community organizations into the conversation from the beginning. Lived experience should not be an afterthought. It should help shape the policy, the program and how we measure whether it actually works.

People deserve to be partners in creating the solutions that affect their lives, not simply recipients of them.

To learn more about my personal journey from housing instability to homeownership and the experiences that shape my approach to housing policy: https://nwmf.org/a-place-to-plant-roots-how-an-affordable-home-empowered-a-community-leader/

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?

I am a huge advocate for supportive housing. People should not have to reach their lowest point before we offer meaningful support. I believe supportive housing should be treated as a long-term investment in stability, health and community well-being, not as a temporary program that depends on the next grant cycle.

Minnesota should create and permanently fund a statewide supportive housing framework that combines safe, affordable housing with the services people need to remain housed. That can include mental health and substance use services, healthcare, transportation, employment support, case management, life-skills education and peer support. Services should be voluntary whenever possible, person-centered and designed to support autonomy and dignity.

We also need to build supportive housing where people actually live, including rural Minnesota. That means giving smaller communities the resources and flexibility to develop local solutions and encouraging partnerships among counties, Tribal Nations, nonprofits, healthcare providers, housing organizations and people with lived experience.

The people using these programs should have a seat at the table when we design, implement and evaluate them. Someone who has navigated homelessness or housing instability understands barriers that may not be visible from a policy office.

Permanent funding matters because housing stability cannot depend on whether an organization wins the next competitive grant. We should build a system that can sustain housing and support services over time, measure outcomes, and continuously improve based on what works.

The goal should not simply be to move people from homelessness into a unit. The goal is to help people build a stable life, maintain their housing, regain independence when they want it, and have the opportunity to move forward.

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?

I know what it feels like to think owning a home is something that just isn’t going to happen for you. I also know what it feels like when that opportunity finally comes.

I experienced housing instability and homelessness. There were times when having a safe, stable place for my family felt completely out of reach. Becoming a homeowner changed that. It gave my family stability, gave my kids a place to grow, and gave me a place to plant roots. It also changed what I believed was possible for myself. I became more connected to my community and more invested in making that community better.

That experience is a big part of why I believe we need to think differently about homeownership. It cannot be limited to people who already have family wealth, perfect credit, or the ability to save thousands of dollars for a down payment.

We need to expand down payment and closing cost assistance, strengthen first-generation homebuyer programs, provide accessible homebuyer education, and make sure people have someone to help them navigate the process. Peer support can be especially valuable for people who have never had anyone in their family who has owned a home.

We should also invest in different models of ownership, including Community Land Trusts, cooperatives, manufactured and modular homes, and shared-equity models. My own experience with affordable homeownership showed me that we don’t have to rely on only one model to create ownership opportunities.

And getting into a home is only part of the equation. We need to look at the costs of staying there too, including property taxes, homeowners insurance, utilities, repairs and maintenance. A home isn’t truly affordable if a family can buy it but can’t afford to keep it.

I went from housing instability to homeownership. I know what that opportunity can mean. I want more Minnesota families to have the chance to plant roots, build stability, and create something that can be passed on to the next generation.

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’ll be honest, zoning reform is an area where I still have more to learn. I understand that the way communities zone and regulate housing can affect what gets built, what it costs, and who can afford to live there. I also know that the housing needs of a rural community like ours are not always the same as the needs of the Twin Cities.

I support looking at ways to give people more housing choices, including smaller homes, accessory dwelling units, duplexes and other forms of multifamily housing where they make sense. I also think we should look at opportunities to reuse existing buildings and land instead of always requiring new development.

At the same time, I don’t believe every community should be forced into a one-size-fits-all approach. Local infrastructure, roads, water and sewer capacity, community needs and the character of each community matter.

I would want to have conversations with local governments, planners, builders, housing organizations, homeowners, renters and people who are struggling to find housing before making decisions about specific zoning changes. I want to understand what is working, what is getting in the way, and what changes could actually help us build and maintain housing people can afford.

This is an issue I would genuinely welcome more conversation about. If you have experience with rural zoning and housing development, I would want to hear from you and learn more.

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 don’t think we can solve Minnesota’s housing problem by simply putting more money into the same system and hoping it catches up. We need reliable, long-term funding, but we also need to be more creative about how we use it.

I support dedicated, ongoing state funding for housing. The current proposal for a dedicated sales tax is one approach worth taking seriously, and I would want to continue listening to housing experts, local communities and the people most affected as we decide what a sustainable funding system should look like.

But where we put the money matters just as much as how much we raise.

I want to invest across the entire housing continuum. That means building new affordable homes, preserving and repairing existing housing, expanding homeownership opportunities, supporting Community Land Trusts and cooperative ownership models, and creating more workforce, senior and starter housing in rural communities.

It also means investing in prevention. I don’t want us to wait until someone is homeless to decide housing is worth investing in. Emergency assistance, eviction prevention, housing navigation, supportive housing and peer support can help people stay housed before they reach a crisis.

We also need funding models that work for rural Minnesota. A small community may need a completely different solution than a large metro area. State funding should give communities the flexibility to develop local solutions while still being accountable for results.

Finally, I want to see more community voice in how housing dollars are spent. The people experiencing housing instability, local governments, housing providers, Tribal communities, nonprofits and residents should have a meaningful role in identifying priorities and evaluating whether our investments are actually working.

Housing funding should not just build units. It should build stability, opportunity and communities.

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

In rural northwest Minnesota, our housing challenges look different than they do in the metro. We need more workforce housing, affordable rentals, senior housing and starter homes, while also preserving the housing we already have. I would support funding that reaches smaller communities, rehabilitation of existing homes, manufactured and modular housing, partnerships with local governments and nonprofits, and programs that help people move from renting to ownership. We also need to address transportation, childcare and employment because housing stability does not exist in isolation. Our communities need housing people can actually afford on the wages they earn here.