Capital Investment Committee hears broad housing infrastructure update and multiple bills; hearings informational only

Minnesota Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho told the Capital Investment Committee on March 25 that housing infrastructure bonds remain a central tool for producing and preserving affordable homes across the state and that demand still far outstrips available funding.

Ho said the state’s housing infrastructure program has “impacted almost 10,000 units” between 2012 and 2024 and that roughly $800,000,000 of state-authorized resources have helped leverage about $1,800,000,000 in total development costs. “Housing infrastructure bonds are a unique Minnesota innovation,” Ho said, adding that the bonds leverage federal resources such as the HOME program and low-income housing tax credits.

The commissioner’s update framed a slate of informational bills that followed. Representative James Howard introduced House File 1141, a $400,000,000 housing infrastructure bond authorization; he said the request aims to “provide thousands of units” across Minnesota. Testimony supporting the bill came from Kelly Law of the Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers, who said the state is more than “100,000 units short of demand” and urged action to “preserve what we…