MHP applauds the Legislative budget targets announced today, which identify a much needed $1 billion in housing investment this biennium. We are grateful to legislative housing champions who are working hard for Minnesota families with this major investment.
Home serves as a foundation upon which other aspects of life and well-being are balanced. A stable home leads to healthier families, quality education, and generational wealth opportunities – our future truly starts at home. This legislative target for housing recognizes the scale at which we need to increase our housing investments for Minnesota. And we still don't have a plan for our future needs for housing Minnesotans can afford.
Acknowledging this important milestone, it is clear through the notable contrast of $50 million in affordable housing investment in the tails that it is also imperative to secure sustainable, predictable, and ongoing funding for the basic human need of housing. Our decades-long underinvestment in housing will not be solved in just one biennium. A clear solution is through a Constitutional Amendment for housing, which would guarantee ongoing funding regardless of who sits in lawmaker seats in the future, or changing priorities for the state budget.
"No child in Minnesota should worry about where they will sleep today, tomorrow, or any day, says Executive Director Anne Mavity. "In order to secure our future, we need bold investments both now and for years to come."
