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In this Issue
Affordable housing continues to be a key issue facing the
metro and a passion of mine. Funding projects can be difficult and often
includes several partner organizations. These complex realities make me even
more pleased that the Council can play a small role in the preservation and
creation of affordable housing in the region. The Council is awarding $2.4
million in Livable Communities grants to metro-area
communities to build and preserve affordable housing. The grants, approved by
the Council earlier this month, will support six multifamily and four
single-family developments for a total of 307 new or rehabilitated affordable
housing units.
The Livable Communities Act (LCA) program was created by the
Minnesota State Legislature in 1995 and has awarded 971 grants totaling about
$347 million to metro cities and counties to date. The program provides
funding for communities to invest in local economic revitalization, affordable
housing initiatives, and development or redevelopment that connects
different land uses and transportation. The program is a voluntary,
incentive-based approach to help communities grow and redevelop, and to address
the region’s affordable and lifecycle housing needs.
Communities awarded funding this round include
Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Mounds View, Saint Paul, Roseville, Waconia, and a
land trust collaborative that includes 12 west-metro cities. The grants
will help leverage more than $32 million in private investment and nearly $41
million in other public investment to provide housing that’s safe and
affordable to low- income residents in the metro area.
To date, the Council’s Livable Communities program has helped
to build or preserve over 22,000 units of affordable homes for ownership or
rental.
Congratulations
to the cities receiving funds this round! Read
more about the projects.
Steve
Chávez
District 15, Council Member
Represent District 15 on the Transportation Accessibility Advisory Committee (TAAC). The TAAC advises the Council on management policies for public transportation services in the region from the perspective of riders with disabilities. The committee has 16 members: a chair appointed by the Council, seven members selected by groups that advocate for seniors and people with disabilities, and eight community members who represent geographic districts in the region. At least half the members must be certified as eligible for ADA paratransit services and be active users of public transportation. Council-appointed members serve two-year terms.
Learn more about this opening and other advisory committee vacancies.
Apply online for the open Chair or District H (Council Districts 15 & 16) positions.
Earlier this month, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded the METRO Gold Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project an important
approval, one of the first steps to a transit line which would connect
thousands of East Metro residents with jobs and opportunities throughout the
Twin Cities metropolitan region. The FTA officially granted the Gold Line entry into the project development phase of the
federal New Starts program, which funds major transit projects across the
country. The designation means local spending will now be eligible for
potential matching federal funds in the future.
The Gold Line is a nine-mile BRT line,
that will run from Woodbury, through Oakdale, Landfall, Maplewood, the East
Side of Saint Paul, ultimately connecting with the Green Line LRT at Union
Depot in Saint Paul. There, riders can plug into the broader transit network,
serving the Mall of America and the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International
Airport from the METRO Blue Line; to jobs in the west metro along the planned
Green Line Extension LRT (Southwest LRT); to North Hennepin Community College
and Target’s Northern campus in Brooklyn Park along the planned Blue Line
Extension LRT (Bottineau); and to the State Capitol, downtown Minneapolis and
Saint Paul, as well as the University of Minnesota campus along the METRO Green Line.
With the acceptance into
project development, the Gold Line team is now cleared to begin the design,
engineering, environmental and community outreach work involved in building the
line. That project team will continue to include staff from Metropolitan
Council, Ramsey County, Washington County, and MnDOT.
The cost of the Gold Line project is currently
estimated at $420 million, with half of the funding coming from the FTA. That
cost estimate will be revised as the design and engineering work on the project
continues. Current timelines estimate construction beginning in 2022, with
rider service beginning in 2024.
Learn more about the Gold Line.
Every e-newsletter, I
will ask a Council trivia question and the first two people who email the
correct answer, I'll treat them to coffee at their time
and place of choice in the district.
Trivia question: This month, Metro Transit announced that new ridership records were set on all three of the region's rail lines. Can you name all three lines?
Email answers to steven.chávez@metc.state.mn.us. |
