Scott County outlines housing strategy as new sales-tax aid and state grants arrive

Scott County commissioners heard a detailed briefing Jan. 21 on housing work planned for 2025, including new local sales-tax funding, a $6 million state grant and expanded partnerships with the Scott County Community Development Agency, CAP (the local CAP agency), school districts and service providers.

The presentation, led by County Administrator Leslie Vermillion and Health and Human Services Director Barb Bridal, set out the county’s role in prevention and eligibility determination, the CDA’s role in capital development and rental subsidy programs, and how community providers will deliver wraparound services for short-term and supportive housing projects.

Why it matters: County leaders said 2025 will be the first full year the Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA) payments arrive. Commissioners and housing partners described a sequence of projects — temporary shelter and case management, reentry housing, supportive housing for people with disabilities, homeownership pathways, and landlord engagement — that rely on both operating and capital funds to move people into stable housing and to add units to the market.

County role and services Barb Bridal described the county’s statutory and programmatic responsibilities, emphasizing economic-assistance roles: eligibility determinations for emergency assistance and for housing-related supports such as GRH (group residential housing) and programs administered under coordinated entry. Bridal said the county also provides oversight of some collaborative programs administered by partners, and that prevention work — including rent-assistance referrals and coordinated entry — is a core county responsibility.

CDA and capital development Julie Sigurd, executive director of the Scott County CDA, said the agency focuses on redeveloping sites, building senior housing and leveraging public subsidy to bring workforce housing online. The CDA administers rental-subsidy programs including the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program (about 430 households currently enrolled, the CDA said) and state-level rental-assistance programs. The agency is constructing its 10th senior property, owns and manages multiple properties, and operates a community land trust and a homeownership counseling program.

Prevention, vouchers and new funding Bridal and other speakers described three funding streams expected to play central roles in 2025: - Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA) / Statewide Affordable Housing Aid (SAHA): funds from a sales tax passed in 2023. The county received two prorated payments in 2024 totaling about $1,900,000 and expects approximately $4,000,000 annually starting in 2025, Bridal said. The county will use the 2024 receipts toward a land purchase and initial construction work and will hold the 2025 receipts as projects complete. - A $6,000,000 state grant that will underwrite much of infrastructure costs for a major CDA project; the grant required a local match, which LAHA is intended to help provide. - FHPAP and other prevention dollars: the county and CAP described ongoing use of Family Homelessness Prevention and Assistance Program (FHPAP) funds and similar prevention streams to reduce eviction filings and keep people housed.

Projects and programs described - SOLO (temporary shelter / program at a church site): CAP Agency was selected through an RFP to operate interim housing and provide intensive case management for families moving from motel placements. CAP described weekly or more frequent contact with residents and coordination with Shepherd of the Lake Church for volunteer support, food pantry and family activities. - Reentry housing (Damascus Way): Two men’s homes (one in Shakopee and one in Prior Lake) serve four people each (eight total at any time); a women’s program is being planned to provide wraparound services, supervised visitation supports and employment/case-management services. Damascus Way described fatherhood services and substance-use supports tied to recidivism reduction. - Permanent supportive housing (Beacon Prairie Point): A 42-unit supportive housing site due to open late in 2025; Volunteers of America will provide on-site services. - Community Land Trust / single-family build-out: The county completed infrastructure for 10 single-family lots to be deeded to the CDA; an RFP for construction is planned for spring. - Rental assistance expansion and landlord engagement: The CDA and county plan a landlord engagement effort to increase participation in voucher programs, leverage the “Bring It Home” statewide vouchers from Minnesota Housing (program to start later this year or next) and use LAHA/SAHA dollars for local, non-portable voucher resources.

Prevention and schools Sam Holt, director of equity and homeless services for Prior Lake–Savage Area Schools, said the district typically learns about student homelessness after the fact; counts in the transcript snapshot (October 1 reporting) understate the number of students served during the full year. Holt and county staff described stronger interagency coordination — school social workers meeting monthly with county staff — to identify families earlier and connect them to resources.

Challenges and implementation issues Speakers discussed ongoing challenges: competition for tax-credit financing across the metro, prevailing wage requirements on state money that can raise construction costs, and the need to make prevention dollars flexible and timely. Julie Sigurd said tax-credit allocation rules (Minnesota Housing’s Qualified Allocation Plan) and transportation/accessibility considerations affect how competitive Scott County projects are for state financing.

What’s next Speakers said several items are expected in 2025: a launch of the city-level LAHA programs in Shakopee and Savage administered via joint powers agreements with the CDA; rollout of the single-family rehab program in Prior Lake; continued landlord engagement and voucher coordination; and the planned openings of Prairie Point, SOLO, and the women’s reentry home. Staff said they will continue to report back to the Board and align agencies around intake and referral processes.

Quotes "We had talked about doing a Scott Delivers and we had talked about doing a Board workshop and decided to try to combine those elements into 1 conversation," County Administrator Leslie Vermillion said, opening the briefing. "The county role is heavily on the prevention side and pieces that we can't really untether ourselves from," Health and Human Services Director Barb Bridal said.

Ending Commissioners asked follow-up questions about landlord protections, truck and traffic impacts of redevelopments, workforce connections and metrics for tracking outcomes. Staff said they will return with more detail on program operations, traffic/land-use impacts as projects proceed, and evaluation metrics to capture both individual outcomes and system-level changes.