Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the First Generation Down Payment Assistance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate bill would extend and expand Minnesota's first-generation down payment assistance program
Summary
Senate File 1610 would convert the pilot First Gen Down Payment Assistance (DPA) program into a permanent program, provide new appropriations, change eligibility and loan caps, and preserve borrower protections. Testimony highlighted early program results and demand; committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion.
Senator Umauver Beighton introduced Senate File 1610 on March 4, asking the Committee on Housing and Homelessness Prevention to convert Minnesota's first-generation down payment assistance pilot into an ongoing program and to add new funding. The bill requests $25 million in fiscal 2026 and $50 million annually beginning in fiscal 2027.
The bill would (as described by the sponsor) establish the pilot as a permanent program, change the eligible-buyer definition from area median income to a statewide income cap, set the maximum assistance beginning in FY27 at 10% of the median statewide home sales price (per the Minnesota Realtors annual report) instead of the current $32,000 fixed cap, and maintain the current recapture rule if a borrower sells or converts the property to non-owner-occupancy within the forgivable period. It also revises administrative-cost limits (from a $3,200-per-loan cap to 10% of the appropriation), allows the program administrator (Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation, MMCDC) to use recaptured funds for future assistance, and clarifies reporting requirements.
Sponsor remarks and administrator testimony focused on early outcomes and demand. "In 2023, you all had allocated $100 million to pilot the first generation homebuyers down payment assistance fund," the sponsor said, and the program administrator reported that 600 households bought homes with the program in the first seven months. Julie Nelmark, president and CEO of Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation (MMCDC), told the committee the program has supported roughly $18,000,000 in DPA loans to date, with commitments, closings and reservations equal to about 35% of the initial fund and an expectation that the original funds would be fully committed by mid-summer to early fall 2025.
Multiple nonprofit and industry witnesses supported expansion. Jason Peterson of NeighborWorks Home Partners described the program's "fund reservation" feature that allows borrowers to reserve assistance in advance of a purchase, making offers more competitive; Habitat for Humanity's advocacy director Jeroo Gobeze and other homeownership counselors highlighted the program's use alongside USDA Section 502 direct loans for rural buyers. Testimony emphasized outreach to BIPOC households: committee materials and witnesses said about 90% of program participants in the initial months were Black, Indigenous or people of color.
Committee members asked about mortgage-product variety, fund administration, and inventory constraints. Senator Draheim and others noted that down payment assistance alone does not create housing supply; the committee record includes repeated references to limited inventory in Greater Minnesota.
The chair laid Senate File 1610 over for possible inclusion in an omnibus; no final appropriation vote occurred in committee.
ACTIONS: The committee recorded the bill being laid over for possible inclusion (no numbered roll-call recorded).
