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Committee advances bill to create African American workforce homeownership program
Summary
The Minnesota Senate Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee advanced Senate File 2423, which would create a grant program targeting African American workforce households for affordable homeownership projects; the bill was amended and recommended to be passed and referred to the Committee on Jobs and Economic Development.
The Minnesota Senate Committee on Housing and Homelessness Prevention recommended passage of Senate File 2423 as amended, a bill to create an African American Workforce and Affordable Homeownership Development Program that would provide grants to cities, tribal governments, nonprofits, cooperatives and community land trusts to develop single-family and multifamily affordable homeownership projects targeted to African American workers.
The bill’s author, Senator Champion, said the proposal was developed in response to disparities cited by the Minnesota Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage, noting Black Minnesotans have lower homeownership rates and higher housing cost burdens. “This program is similar to the existing workforce and affordable homeownership development program,” Senator Champion said, “but there are significant differences, including that this bill focuses grant funding on projects that create or expand homeownership for African Americans in the workforce.”
In testimony, Naida Presley, president-elect of the Saint Paul NAACP and a former affordable-homeownership developer, urged the committee to support the bill, saying targeted investments could expand homeownership, build construction capacity within communities, and create generational wealth. “Investing in Black workforce development is another opportunity, and it's a return on the investment,” Presley said.
Reverend Alfred Babington Johnson, convener of His Works United, told the committee the measure would provide “targeted investment strategies to achieve affordable homeownership” for African American Minnesotans and described the issue as a longstanding disparity. Community member Carl Crawford also testified in support, describing homeownership as “the gateway to generational wealth.”
Committee members asked legal and equity questions during the discussion. Senator Lucero asked whether targeting services to African Americans could conflict with the Minnesota human rights statute, which guarantees freedom from housing discrimination. Senator Champion responded that the bill targets but does not exclude other groups and said programs would not prevent non‑African American households from applying or receiving assistance.
The committee adopted an A1 author’s amendment (moved by Senator Bolden), then Senator Mohammed moved that the bill as amended be recommended to pass and be referred to the Committee on Jobs and Economic Development. The motion prevailed by voice vote and the bill was sent on to the next committee. The transcript records no roll-call vote tally for either the amendment or the final motion.
Votes at a glance - A1 author’s amendment to SF 2423: adopted (moved by Senator Bolden; voice vote). - SF 2423 as amended: recommended to pass and referred to the Committee on Jobs and Economic Development (moved by Senator Mohammed; voice vote).
The bill as presented included a blank appropriation section; Senator Champion said the committee would discuss appropriation targets at later stages if the bill advances.
