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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carolyn Marinan, Communications, 612-910-9111
On Tuesday, the Hennepin County Housing Redevelopment Authority approved $7.9 million in remaining housing recovery funds
Hennepin County has allocated or awarded a total of $46 million in 37 affordable housing and homeownership projects from the county’s pandemic housing recovery fund since 2021. In total, these projects will create or preserve nearly 2,800 units of affordable housing, well surpassing the county’s ambitious pandemic recovery goals.
On Tuesday this week, Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, acting as the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), approved $7.9 million in housing recovery funding, the last of the county’s housing recovery funds, to support a wide range of affordable housing projects. These projects will create or preserve 431 units of affordable housing in seven projects across the County.
In 2021, the county authorized a total of $46 million in federal pandemic recovery funding to equitable housing recovery activities. Initial goals set for this funding were to create or preserve 2,000 units of affordable rental housing and help more than 100 households buy homes.
With Tuesday’s approved funding, the last of the recovery funds, the county will far surpass its goal with a total of 2,705 units of affordable rental housing and 77 affordable homeownership opportunities.
The pandemic recovery funding accelerated the impact of existing County and HRA programs. When combining the housing recovery funds with the HRA-funded Affordable Housing Incentive Fund, the Supportive Housing Strategy, and the federally-funded HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the County and HRA financed the creation or preservation of more than 3,300 units of affordable housing in 2022.
Chris LaTondresse, Hennepin County District 6 Commissioner and Chair of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, stressed Hennepin County’s long-term commitment to affordable housing and its strong foundational strategies made before the pandemic as key to the county’s success.
"Hennepin County’s housing stability investments with American Rescue Plan funds are among the largest in the nation,” LaTondresse said. “Our residents have told us time and time again that addressing the housing crisis is a top priority. With these remaining pandemic recovery awards Hennepin County is meeting the moment with historic investments in deeply affordable housing across the continuum. We are serving residents, maximizing the impacts of the county's long-term strategies, and positioning our region for the future.”
Marion Greene, Hennepin County District 3 Commissioner and Chair of the Board of Commissioners, noted that these investments target some of the county’s most vulnerable residents and are critical to reducing racial disparities—a primary goal for the county.
“With these investments, we tripled our usual annual output and far surpassed the ambitious goals we set in 2021,” said Greene. “Not only that, a third of the affordable units are deeply affordable – a type of unit that our market desperately needs, increasing availability for residents who most need it. With the scale of these investments, we continue to respond to and dismantle historic racial injustice, and the inequity of our economy.”
Nearly $34 million of the $46 million was awarded to projects led by developers of color, acknowledging historical challenges accessing private and public capital and other barriers to entry, or in neighborhoods impacted by civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Funding details
In total, the county has invested $46 million, the full amount of the pandemic recovery funds allocated to equitable housing recovery in 2021, supporting nearly 2,800 units of affordable housing.
$46 million in housing recovery funding supporting 37 projects
- $29.7 million for 23 projects that create or preserve 1,642 units of affordable housing, including 505 affordable to households at 30% of the area median income
- $4.9 million for 5 projects that preserve 1002 units of naturally occurring affordable housing
- $3.3 million for 7 projects that create 77 affordable homeownership opportunities
- $8.1 million for rehabilitation and conversion of HRA-acquired properties into affordable housing
Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at hennepin.us/news.
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