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City staff presents Maxfield housing analysis showing tight rental market and demand for senior units
Summary
City housing staff summarized Maxfield's updated 2024 comprehensive housing needs analysis, reporting Duluth's recent population growth, very low vacancy rates, rising rents and a projected need for about 6,000 new housing units by 2030, with particular demand for senior and affordable rentals.
Tom Church, a senior housing developer with the City of Duluth, and Lena Fan Cook, a housing planner, presented findings from the updated Maxfield 2024 comprehensive housing needs analysis at the Duluth City Council's committee of the whole session.
Maxfield's analysis shows Duluth's population rose by roughly 0.5 percent between 2010 and 2020 (about 500 people) and estimates the city added about 1,300 people between 2020 and 2025, with a similar increase projected to 2030. The consultants project the city's population will exceed 90,000 by the mid-2030s, reversing years of stagnation.
The report found the city issued about 1,800 building permits from 2018 to 2024 (roughly 230 per year) and reported a banner year in 2024 with 621 certificates of occupancy. Still, Maxfield projects a need for roughly 6,000 new housing units by 2030 across for-sale, market-rate rental, and age-restricted senior housing. An additional roughly 2,500 units would be needed between 2030 and 2035.
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