The Minnesota House on Sunday adopted the conference committee report on Senate File 2298 and repassed the bill as amended by the conference committee; the roll call showed 108 ayes and 26 nays.

Members said the measure redistributes a reduced $15 million budget target across several statewide housing programs and adds policy changes aimed at transparency and encouraging local land-use reform.

The conference report, explained by Representative Igoe, the bill’s House co-chair, includes increases and line items that members described as a bipartisan attempt to address affordability and housing stability. “We have a good conference committee report in front of us, with the budget targets that were reached,” Representative Igoe said. He told colleagues the conference reduced an earlier $75,000,000 target to $15,000,000 and that the conferees spread that money across multiple programs.

Key allocations detailed on the floor included: $2,000,000 added to the statewide Challenge Program; $2,000,000 to workforce homeownership; $2,000,000 for Greater Minnesota infrastructure grants; $2,000,000 for community-based first-time homebuyer grants; and $8,300,000 to FHPAP, a program that provides emergency rental assistance and homelessness prevention. Representatives also described a $3,800,000 appropriation described as “tails” to enable $50,000,000 in Housing Infrastructure Bonds (HIBs), which members said would be split roughly 50/50 between the Twin Cities metro area and Greater Minnesota.

Representative Howard, the House co-chair, said the bill contained “bread-and-butter investments” that make some affordable and workforce housing projects possible while urging further action next session. “This is a good bill, but I want to be clear it’s not nearly good enough,” Howard said, citing a long-term housing shortage and noting that public investment alone would not fully close the state’s housing gap.

Several members used the debate to press for policy changes beyond funding. Representative Nash urged land-use and zoning reform as central to increasing housing supply, saying money alone would not fix the state’s undersupply of housing. “If we do not make meaningful reform to land use and zoning, all the money in the world is not gonna fix the problem,” Nash said.

Debate also highlighted manufactured-home park concerns and private-equity purchases. Representatives Engin, Scrabba and Norris described cases in which residents faced rising lot rents after parks were sold, and Norris said the legislature needs tools such as revolving loan funds and down-payment assistance so residents can buy parks and form co-ops when parks are offered for sale.

Representative Hussein and others urged passage as a modest but necessary step. Hussein noted specific line items on the floor: “We are investing $8,000,000 in emergency rental assistance. We are allocating $6,000,000 for construction for Greater Minnesota. We are dedicating $4,000,000 first generation homebuyers assistance to close the racial homeownership gap,” he said.

Members also described policy provisions included in the conference report: transparency requirements directing the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to report to the chairs and ranking members when it moves dollars; language to allow adaptive reuse financing with Housing Infrastructure Bonds; and a scoring preference that would permit up to 5 percentage points in grant solicitations for cities that adopt specified land-use and zoning policies. That scoring preference was described on the floor as a four-year, sunsetted program.

There was limited floor discussion of procedural steps: the clerk read the bill for third reading as amended by the conference and the House took a roll call vote, after which the bill was repassed as amended and its title agreed to.

Action and next steps recorded on the floor were limited to adopting the conference report and repassing the bill; several members urged continued work in the interim on land-use reform, manufactured-home protections, and larger budgetary commitments to housing.

Votes at a glance: the House repassed the bill as amended by the conference committee on a roll call of 108 ayes and 26 nays. The bill was given third reading as amended by conference and its title was agreed to.

— Ending: The chamber concluded floor debate and proceeded to vote; members from both parties said they expect to continue work on zoning, manufactured-home protections and larger investments in housing during the interim and next session.