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 and December.

County staff and the CDA outlined specific program designs and initial allocations. Jen Romero, housing supervisor for Carver County Health & Human Services, said HHS will use roughly $120,000 for rent-assistance to help households behind on rent and to preserve existing housing, and that HHS released an RFP in October that allocated $255,000 among four support providers: the CAP agency ($100,000), Skyline Inc. ($80,000), Maverick Unified Services ($60,000) and Volunteers of America ($15,000). Romero said an additional roughly $80,000 will support HHS’s housing support unit for county clients.

Allison Lisonbee, speaking for the CDA, and Melody Bridgeman, CDA director of community development, described the CDA’s planned programs. The board-approved down-payment assistance program was described as available to first-time homebuyers at or below 100% of area median income (CDA staff stated that 100% AMI was currently $124,200), with a maximum purchase price cap initially set at $415,000 and loan/assistance amounts up to $50,000 per household. Eligibility will require completion of a homebuyer education class and a debt-to-income ratio cap of 40%.

CDA staff said additional programs will target seniors (deferred, forgivable rehab loans for critical structural repairs aimed at households at or below 60% AMI), a low-interest revolving rehab loan fund (targeting households at or below 80% AMI) and a multifamily new-production gap fund intended as gap financing for developers (planned for later years of the five-year projection). Melody Bridgeman said the CDA estimates the pooled LAHA resources could help about 225 households over five years, assuming modest growth in sales-tax receipts.

Commissioners asked about program details and downstream impacts. Commissioner Anderson asked whether the 30/70 HHS–CDA split remains sufficient; county staff said the split was based on recent historical spending and could be revisited if needs change. Commissioner Utermann asked how many families had been served so far; staff said contracts for the CDA programs had not yet been signed, so a final served-count was not available. A county director (spoken as Director Goodwin in the meeting) noted that creating housing typically increases HHS caseloads (for income support, waiver services and other programs) and said the county is tracking operational capacity and potential budget impacts.

Commissioner Workman highlighted longer-term ideas the board may explore, including cooperative housing models and using county-controlled land to lower development costs; CDA staff said they will research co-op funding opportunities and other creative financing.

The board passed the motion to approve the Local Affordable Housing Aid professional service agreement between Carver County and the Carver County Community Development Agency (contract number 25-131) through Dec. 31, 2026, pending completion of the county’s internal contract review process. Commissioner Anderson made the motion and Commissioner Fahey seconded it; the motion passed on a voice vote.

Next steps include finalizing and executing the contract through the county’s internal process, launching the contracted CDA and HHS programs, and returning to the board in future years to review fund utilization and whether the 30/70 split remains appropriate.