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Council reviews multiple housing funding requests including Union Gospel Mission pre‑commitments and Decker 2 developer support
Summary
Councilors heard presentations and read several resolutions that would authorize pre‑commitments and grant reprogramming for multiple housing projects, including Mission Heights (Union Gospel Mission) and Decker 2 (1 Roof Housing). City staff described HUD allocations and CDBG/HOME/ESG adjustments.
The Council heard multiple items from Planning and Economic Development related to housing funding and project pre‑commitments, including support requests for Union Gospel Mission’s Mission Heights project and 1 Roof Housing’s Decker 2 project.
Councilor Swenson read a set of resolutions (items 13–24) that included conditional pre‑commitments of HOME and HUD funds, a joint powers agreement with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency related to 2026 Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) applications, increases and reprogramming of HOME and ESG funds, and finalization of the 2025 Annual Action Plan for CDBG, HOME and ESG funds.
Katie Huland, executive director of Union Gospel Mission, said the organization has secured site control of property across from the government services center and described progress on fundraising and partnerships; she said the current package of commitments would bring the Mission Heights housing portion to about 10.12% of the local match needed for the housing portion, while the engagement center portion (estimated at roughly $10 million) remains unfunded. Tom Church, who helps oversee the community development committee, confirmed the committee recommended pre‑commitment funding for Union Gospel Mission and 1 Roof’s Decker 2 project. Dakota Sowell of 1 Roof described Decker 2 as a proposed 45‑unit affordable project (targeting 30–60% AMI and some units set aside for people experiencing homelessness and people with disabilities) and said the HRA committed new vouchers to support families.
Director Mantel (Planning/Economic Development staff) explained the HUD allocation process for CDBG, HOME and ESG and why final federal allocations sometimes differ from local budget estimates; staff described how reprogramming of ESG funds helped cover a minor CDBG shortfall for Safe Haven. No formal votes are recorded in the transcript excerpt; the agenda items were read into the record and proponents presented project updates.
