We are excited to share three key Homes for All milestones from the past month, toward the goal of securing $100 million in bonding for affordable housing in the 2014 legislature:

1. In late February, the Homes for All bonding bill requesting $100 million for Housing was introduced in the House by Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL) and in the Senate by Sen. LeRoy Stumpf (DFL).
2. On March 14, the Minnesota House DFL released its budget targets for the 2014 session. The budget lists target levels by category, including $20 million in Government Obligation bonds and $80 million in Housing Infrastructure bonds.
3. Last Thursday, Rep. Hausman introduced HF-3250, the Capital Investment bill. This proposed legislation is consistent with the House DFL targets for housing, as it also includes $20 million in Government Obligation bonds and $80 million in Housing Infrastructure bonds. The Senate has not yet released its Capital Investment bill.

The Homes for All alliance requested $100 million to help thousands of the 600,000 households in Minnesota who pay more than 30% of their income on housing.  Specifically, the money will create supportive housing, preserve federally-assisted housing, help foreclosure impacted areas, and rehab public housing. 

We thank the housing bonding bill authors in both the House and the Senate, as well as Minnesota House leadership for including affordable housing in their budget priorities. All the progress to date is the result of the combined efforts of legislative leadership and advocacy work from many organizations and individuals over the past few months.

You can help keep up the momentum by participating in two events at the Capitol – no experience necessary for either event:

• Housing Development Day on the Hill is next Thursday, March 27 from 9 am – 3pm. Join MHP, along with the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers and Minnesota NAHRO, for a day of legislative advocacy. If you can’t come for the full day, join us for the morning!  Speaker of the House Paul Thissen (DFL), along with Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL) and Sen. John Pederson (R), will kick off the morning on a breakfast panel at the League of Cities at 9 am. Register Here!

• Habitat on the Hill – Minnesota 2014 is Tuesday April 8 from 8 am – 1 pm. Register Here! Meet at the Minnesota State Capitol, Room 118. Participants get free parking, t-shirt and box lunch.

You can also follow progress on all housing-related bills on MHP’s bill tracker.

MHP is a proud partner of Homes for All. The Homes for All alliance advances shared policy initiatives that lead to housing stability for all Minnesotans. To learn more about Homes for All, including the legislative agenda, list of current members, and other tools for advocates, click here.