Senate committee hears $400 million request for housing infrastructure bonds to expand affordable housing

Senator Port presented Senate File 203 to the Minnesota Senate Committee on Housing and Homelessness Prevention, asking the committee to authorize $400 million in housing infrastructure bonds (HIBs) to build and preserve affordable housing across the state.

Supporters told the committee that HIBs are among the state’s most flexible capital tools for affordable housing. “Housing infrastructure bonds are an extremely flexible tool. And they are the state's largest source of capital for developing and preserving affordable housing,” Senator Port said. Testifiers said HIBs help fund projects that other tools do not support and are critical to preservation and development.

Mandy Pant, director of real estate development and asset management at the American Indian Community Development Corporation,…