2026 Candidate Housing Questionnaire: Candidate Portal

A stable home is the starting point for opportunity—for our kids, our health, and our economy.

Unfortunately, Minnesota’s housing shortage continues to strain renters, workers, and first-time homebuyers. Nearly half of Minnesota renter households are cost burdened, leaving families less money for food, health care, and other basic needs. Older adults face even greater pressure, with 63% of senior renters cost burdened. The median age of a first-time homebuyer in Minnesota has risen to a historic high of 40 years. None of Minnesota’s top five in-demand jobs pay enough for workers to afford homeownership, and only registered nurses earn enough to afford decent, well-maintained rental housing.

With smart investments and policy change, Minnesota can create more homes and keep opportunity within reach for all. As you consider the below questions, please consider how you will include community voices in developing and implementing housing solutions.

Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP) and Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota (Habitat Minnesota) invite you to complete our 2026 Candidate Housing Questionnaire. All candidates have been invited to complete the questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire is to educate and inform residents of candidate responses to housing issues. This questionnaire is not meant to serve as an endorsement of or for any candidate or political party.

Responses will be posted here on a rolling basis as received. The deadline for submission is October 16, 2026 at 11:59pm.

Please keep each response to fewer than 250 words.

2026 Candidate Housing Questionnaire

First Name(Required)

Last Name(Required)

Address

City/Town(Required)

State

ZIP/Postal Code(Required)

Political Party(Required)

Legislative District(Required)

Email Address(Required)

Phone Number(Required)

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? (250 max word count)(Required)

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? (250 max word count)(Required)

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? (250 max word count)(Required)

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? (250 max word count)(Required)

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? (250 max word count)(Required)

If you have other housing policy priorities, especially specific to your district’s housing needs, please share them here. (250 max word count)(Required)

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2026 Candidate Housing Questionnaire

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