In its third edition, MHP’s State of the State’s Housing shows that more than a quarter of Minnesota families pay more than they can afford for housing — and that number is growing. In addition to spotlighting key trends, like the gap between the costs of housing and the salaries of in-demand jobs, the report also ranks counties on benchmarks like renter cost burden and showcases issues like aging housing stock with dynamic maps. The report also shares stories from communities collaborating to tackle local needs.

First released in 2017, the State of the State’s Housing has been used by members of the media to tell a more complete story of Minnesota’s housing challenges. The report has been cited in legislative hearings as an authoritative source of solid housing information. For communities around the state, the State of the State’s Housing has been key to advancing new housing projects and programs. The underlying housing data contained in this report provides an important baseline of what housing looked like in 2019.

In 2021, new and sometimes unquantifiable challenges have made analyzing housing trends more difficult, and we’ve done our best with this edition to put those challenges — like COVID-19 and widescale loss of incomes — into context. We know that housing challenges are ahead of us, and our hope is that when advocates and decision-makers are armed with information, we can attack those challenges head on.

Click here to download the Key Findings page.

Click here to download the full report.

Key findings include:

• More affordable housing needed. In Minnesota, there is critical need for housing particularly for extremely low-income renters, or renter households that earn at or under 30% of area median income (AMI). There are approximately 169,585 renter households in the state fall into this category; yet, there are only 64,238 affordable and available units at this income level across the state. This leaves a gap of 105,347 units needed for extremely low-income renters.
• Homeownership disparities persist. Racial disparities in Minnesota are among the worst in the nation. While 77 percent of all white households own their home, 60 percent of Asian, 50 percent of Hispanic, 49 percent of Native American, and just 25 percent of Black households own their homes.
• Housing costs are increasing. Housing costs continue to increase disproportionately to income. Between 2000 and 2019, the median renter income in Minnesota increased by just 1 percent, while median gross rent for the state increased by 14 percent.
• Cost burden disparities magnified. The cost-burden disparity for renters and homeowners of color is stark. In Minnesota, 44 percent of white renters are cost burdened; in contrast, 58 percent of Black renters — 82,364 renter households — pay more than they can afford on housing.
• Wages are not keeping up with housing costs. Of the top five in-demand jobs in the state, three do not earn enough for quality housing to be affordable. Relatively low-earning positions central to the healthcare industry, particularly home health and personal care aides and nursing assistants, are expected to see some of the largest increases in demand over the next ten years.

Building on our County Profiles, released each year since 2009, MHP created the State of the State’s Housing to continue to benchmark progress at the state, region and county levels in critical areas, including

• cost-burdened households paying at least 30% of their income for housing;
• a comparison of what common jobs pay relative to what renting and owning actually costs;
• changes in rent and home values;
• construction of multi- and single-family homes;
• trends in homelessness;
• and more!

The report also includes county rankings and maps that reveal trends in areas like gross rent increase, affordable housing for extremely low-income households and housing cost burden for seniors.

Click here to download the full report.