Task force presents 18 recommendations to stabilize Minnesotaaffordable housing; calls for paired service funding and insurance study

A legislative task force charged with studying long-term sustainability of affordable housing presented an 18-point report to the Senate Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee, urging state partners to pair service funding with capital, update underwriting and allocation rules, and examine rising insurance costs that threaten providers.

The report, staffed by Legislative Coordinating Commission research analyst Evelyn Weiner, lays out recommendations to evaluate permanent supportive and deeply affordable housing models, revise Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) scoring for low-income housing tax credits, and create a policy framework for preserving regulated affordable housing as distinct from new construction. Weiner said the task forceduties were set by state statute and included evaluating financing, administrative tools, asset management practices and the potential loss of federally rent-assisted units.

Why it matters: witnesses and providers told the committee that rising operating costs, insurance increases and insufficient service funding are pushing affordable properties toward loss, closure or foreclosure. Several nonprofit operators described closures and large portfolio losses that, they said, put thousands of units at risk.

Center City Housing…