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Minnesota Housing seeks $7M for public housing preservation as demand outpaces funds
Summary
Minnesota Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho told the Capital Investment Committee the governor proposes $7 million for the publicly owned housing preservation program and described unmet capital needs in older public housing. The agency said recent rounds of funding were heavily oversubscribed and that local public housing authorities continue to
Minnesota Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho told the House Capital Investment Committee on Feb. 27 that the governor’s 2025 bonding proposal includes $7,000,000 for the Publicly Owned Housing Preservation Program to repair and preserve aging public housing across Minnesota.
Ho said publicly owned housing serves many seniors, people with disabilities and residents with extremely low incomes and that the capital backlog for publicly owned housing in Minnesota was estimated at more than $500 million between 2020 and 2024. She noted that federal capital funding for public housing has not kept pace with needs nationally.
Nut graf: The agency described the preservation program as targeting urgent health-and-safety repairs—elevators, plumbing, roofs, fire suppression, accessibility and hazardous-material abatement—and said demand routinely outstrips available dollars.
Commissioner Ho reviewed 2023 funding as a case study: legislative authorizations in 2023 totaled $87,000,000 across cash and general-obligation bonds, but Minnesota Housing’s first round awarded about $39.5 million while requests far exceeded available resources. Ho said the current RFP round has received initial responses totaling nearly $103 million while about $40 million is available for awards.
Program details and geography: Ho said most past projects were completed in Greater Minnesota and that Minnesota Housing has tried to keep applications accessible for small public housing authorities with limited staff by making the application conceptual and offering technical assistance. The program historically funded 75 projects between 1992 and 2014 with about $23 million in appropriations.
Ending: Ho asked lawmakers to consider the program’s role in preserving housing infrastructure for very low-income renters and said Minnesota Housing would provide follow-up materials and technical assistance to applicants and committee members.
