Dakota County CDA presents housing‑needs analysis: Eagan faces gaps for renter and for‑sale affordability

Dakota County Community Development Agency officials presented a countywide housing needs assessment with a focused chapter on Eagan during the June 10 workshop. The CDA said Eagan will add households through 2029 and that the study identifies gaps in rental and for‑sale housing across a range of income bands, with pronounced needs at lower incomes and for senior housing.

Why it matters: city planning, permitting and targeted local incentives will influence whether new housing — market‑rate, workforce or subsidized — can be built to meet projected demand and to reduce housing cost burden among low‑income households.

Key findings presented Tony Shurtler, executive director of the Dakota County CDA, said the county report drills down to municipal data while keeping a countywide perspective. "Eagan is one of the best cities that we work with. You guys have been very, we're great partners as we develop affordable housing," Shurtler said, calling Eagan a "built" city with limited greenfield opportunities and a need for creative infill and redevelopment.

CDA analyst Patrick Bowen showed the municipality‑level projections the report used: the demographer projected Eagan to add roughly 245 households between 2024 and 2029, with household growth concentrated in the 45–54 and 65+ age brackets. Bowen noted Eagan also draws large numbers of commuters — the CDA presentation cited roughly 41,000 people commuting into Eagan for work — which affects local demand and spending patterns.

Rental and for‑sale gaps The report's gap calculation combined expected household growth with other local factors (substandard housing replacement, overcrowding, severe housing cost burden and people spending below their income level). For Eagan the CDA estimated an aggregate rental need around 1,700 units and a for‑sale need of roughly 3,200 units when accounting for these factors; CDA analysts stressed those are problem‑scale figures, not a recommendation to build that precise number of new units immediately.

Bowen highlighted that multifamily rental vacancies were tight countywide; the CDA's property survey found a roughly 3% vacancy rate for multifamily in Eagan, and very low availability among tax‑credit or subsidized units. For for‑sale housing, Eagan had about 62 homes on the market at the time of the snapshot, yielding roughly 0.3% availability and about 1.3 months of supply — far below typical healthy market levels of several months.

Affordability by income and policy implications The CDA broke down household affordability by occupation and income; many common local jobs do not generate single‑earner incomes sufficient to buy homes at current median prices, and fair‑market rents for two‑bedroom units often exceeded what lower‑paid workers could afford. Bowen and Shurtler said this creates persistent demand for subsidized housing or tenant‑based rental assistance and argued local strategies should include new supply, preservation, and partnerships with employers and the CDA.

The council and staff discussed next steps and use of the study. Council members asked how municipal land availability, permitting and infrastructure capacity should be folded into priorities; CDA staff responded the study intentionally separates demonstrated demand from land‑use constraints and recommended the CDA and city use the results to set local priorities and pursue funding and partnerships. Tony Shurtler told the council the CDA has a policy objective to increase the county’s supply and said the agency intends to pursue new senior and workforce housing projects where feasible.

Ending Council members and CDA staff discussed prioritizing support for households at or below 30% of area median income (AMI), where market solutions alone are unlikely to close gaps. The CDA noted existing voucher programs and county levy resources as part of the toolkit and urged cities to set concrete goals if they want to attract public and private funding. The council took no formal action at the workshop.