Advocates urge continued funding for first‑generation down‑payment aid and homeownership counseling

Advocates representing homeowners, homebuyer counseling, nonprofit developers, and manufactured‑housing organizations told the housing conference committee they support continued and expanded funding for programs that promote homeownership and preserve affordable owner‑occupied home sites.

Paul Edgar, senior vice president of government affairs for the Minnesota Realtors Association, spoke in favor of the Senate’s funding for the community‑based first‑generation homebuyer down‑payment assistance program. “We are proud members of the coalition that worked on the innovative pilot program, which was funded by the legislature in 2023,” Edgar said, and he urged the committee to “prioritize funding for this program at some level so the great support the pilot program is providing for first generation homebuyers can continue.”

Roxanne Young Kimball, president and CEO of the Minnesota Homeownership Center, said the first‑generation program has helped households of color: “Over 90% of the households served by the first gen community down payment assistance program have been households of color,” she said, and noted the pilot was originally funded at $100 million in 2023 with an expected 2,900 homebuyers served; as of April 30 the program had helped nearly 1,000 homebuyers with about 1,200 additional households in the pipeline.

Advocates also urged support for other homeownership and preservation tools. Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota and the Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers both endorsed the House’s larger one‑time investments in housing infrastructure bonds and the workforce and challenge programs, and urged continued access to the community‑based first‑generation assistance. Emily Stewart of North Country Cooperative Foundation emphasized manufactured‑home community preservation and described a recent resident‑owned community conversion that used state direct appropriations, and asked negotiators to direct housing infrastructure bond proceeds toward manufactured home community redevelopment work as needed.

Why it matters

Proponents said preserving and expanding down‑payment assistance and counseling is a targeted way to increase sustainable homeownership and address racial homeownership gaps. Counselors and intermediaries said that without ongoing base funding the counseling network risks service reductions that could increase foreclosure risk.

Clarifying details offered in testimony

- First‑generation down‑payment assistance: pilot funded with $100,000,000 in 2023; staff and advocates said nearly 1,000 homebuyers served as of April 30 with another 1,200 in the pipeline. - Homebuyer education and counseling: the Homeownership Center and the HECAT counseling network provide statewide counseling; testimony asked for an $857,000 base increase to avoid service reductions. - Manufactured home community redevelopment (MHCR): advocates described MHCR as an important program to repair infrastructure and enable resident ownership; testimony noted MHCR has funded multiple projects and preserved hundreds of home sites.

There were no formal votes recorded on these requests at the hearing; advocates asked negotiators to preserve or expand these programs in the final conference agreement.