Carver County approves LAHA agreement with CDA to fund down-payment aid, rehab and loan programs

The Carver County Board of Commissioners approved a professional services agreement with the Carver County Community Development Agency (CDA) to administer county Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA), authorizing the CDA to use 70% of the county’s LAHA allocation through Dec. 31, 2026, pending internal contract review.

The agreement implements a plan approved by the board that splits the county’s LAHA allocation between Health & Human Services (HHS) and the CDA: HHS will receive 30% for rent assistance and case management and the CDA will receive 70% to operate housing programs including down-payment assistance, senior rehabilitation loans, a revolving loan fund and, in later years, multifamily gap financing.

LAHA was created by the 2023 Minnesota Legislature and is funded from a metro-area sales and use tax; county staff said certified Carver County receipts for 2024 were about $1.6 million and preliminary modeling suggested roughly $2.4 million could be available in 2025, with the state certifying exact amounts later in the year. Staff explained collections are paid in two installments, in July…