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IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kyle Mianulli, Communications, 612-596-9875
Hennepin County has invested $39.8 million in 33 affordable housing and homeownership projects so far in 2022. In total, these projects will create or preserve more than 2,700 units of affordable housing.
On Tuesday this week, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, acting as the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, approved $27.2 million in pandemic recovery funding supporting a wide range of affordable housing projects. In total, these projects will create or preserve 1,800 units of affordable housing and create 73 homeownership opportunities. An additional $12.6 million has already been awarded to affordable housing projects through other affordable housing programs and initiatives, supporting an additional 900 units of housing.
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 housing and help more than 100 households buy homes. With nearly $13 million in federal funding remaining, Hennepin County is poised to far exceed those initial estimates.
Chris LaTondresse, Hennepin County District 6 Commissioner and Chair of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority credits this success to strong foundational strategies and investments made before the pandemic that allowed the county to be responsive and strategic with how it invested federal money.
“These housing awards demonstrate Hennepin County’s innovation and commitment to deeply affordable housing and investments across the continuum,” LaTondresse said. “We had a strong housing and homelessness strategy going into the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed us to have a deep impact during the crisis response phase. We are now able to build on and maximize the long-term impacts of those strategies as we recover and position our region for a more equitable future.”
Marion Greene, Hennepin County District 3 Commissioner and Chair of the Board of Commissioners, noted the long-term impact of these investments goes beyond the pandemic and are critical to reducing racial disparities—a primary goal for the county.
“This investment is next level,” Greene said. “We are meeting our region’s affordable housing challenges today head on, as we have for several years. We’re not just responding to the impacts of the pandemic with these investments, we continue our work to respond to and dismantle historic racial injustice – in the scale of these investments, and by being deliberate in how, where, and with whom we invest in affordable housing.”
Of the pandemic recovery funding awarded by the board this week, more than half, $17.5 million, was prioritized for projects led by developers of color or in neighborhoods impacted by civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Hennepin County is advancing several innovative new strategies to address affordable housing challenges:
- Acquiring properties to convert into long-term Single Room Occupancy Housing that will be affordable to households with the lowest incomes.
- Project-based subsidies to increase the number of units in housing development projects affordable at 30% of the area median income
- New initiatives to reduce disparities in homeownership rates
- A supportive housing strategy to increase housing options for people with a combination of extremely low incomes and conditions or challenges to stable housing
Funding details
In total, the county has invested $39.8 million so far in 2022 supporting more than 2,700 units of affordable housing.
$27.2 million in pandemic recovery funding supporting 22 projects
- $2 million for five projects that experienced pandemic-related construction cost increases that prevent completion
- $4.6 million for four projects that preserved Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing
- $17.5 million for seven projects led by developers of color and/or in neighborhoods impacted by civil unrest
- $2.5 million for five affordable homeownership assistance projects
- $600,000 for conversion of tax-forfeit property to affordable homeownership opportunities
$5.2 million in funding from the Affordable Housing Incentive Fund (AHIF) supporting seven projects
$2.4 million in funding from the HOME Investment Partnerships Program supporting four projects
$5 million in pandemic recovery funding to acquire and rehab two buildings and convert them to single room occupancy housing
Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at hennepin.us/news.
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