Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Affordable Housing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Eden Prairie outlines Local Affordable Housing Aid uses and a $150,000 state grant for housing programs
Summary
City staff told the council the new Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAA) allocations and a $150,000 Minnesota Housing grant will support first-time buyer loans, rehab loans, rental assistance and community land trust work; staff gave income thresholds and activity counts for recent allocations.
City staff told the Eden Prairie City Council on March 3 that two new funding sources — Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAA) created by the 2023 legislature and the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund grant — will be used to support local affordable housing programs.
The community development director explained LAA is funded through regional sales tax allocations in the seven‑county metro area, is distributed to counties and cities, and must be spent on eligible housing projects within three years. Staff explained the program’s income limits as applied locally: ownership projects can qualify up to 115% of area median income (staff cited an example of $152,000 for a family of four) and rental programs typically use an 80% AMI threshold (staff cited an example of $104,000 for a family of four).
Staff reported local use of LAA to date: five first‑time home buyer loans and 18 rehab loans distributed, and 45 households received rental assistance in 2025. The city also committed $125,000 to PROP (local rental assistance provider) earlier this year; staff said updates on how those dollars were allocated were not yet available.
The Affordable Housing Trust Fund, established by the city in 2022, recently received a one‑time $150,000 grant from Minnesota Housing. Staff said the trust grant must also be spent within three years and can support first‑time buyer loan programs, rehab projects, rental assistance and limited administrative costs; staff noted the city will continue coordinating multiple funding sources administratively when processing loan and assistance applications. Staff directed residents with questions to program pages and staff contacts on the city website.
Council discussion focused on how the funds will be administered, whether program information is consolidated online for residents to find, and the city’s ability to reallocate funds between eligible categories before the three‑year spending deadline if programs are underutilized.
