Because we need to ensure the state is making the ongoing investments required totruly address our current housing crisis.
Our campaign principles include race equity, sustainability and climate resilience, uplifting rural voices, accessibility, and ensuring frontline leaders and grassroots groups are decision-makers and campaign leaders.
The constitutional amendment for housing will create a:
Homeownership Opportunity Fund
Rental Opportunity Fund (including a minimum investment of $100 million annually in universal rental assistance/Bring it Home, MN)
Household & Community Stability Fund.
The funds are broad and flexible, able to accommodate innovative new concepts as well as existing programs, funds, and financing. A council of up to 24 people will be appointed for each fund to make budget and policy recommendations to the Governor and Legislature, with seats reserved for those with lived experience and frontline and grassroots organizations, among others.
DRAFT ballot language: A constitutional amendment for housing:
Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to remove barriers to homeownership, to make our rental housing safe and affordable, and to protect our vulnerable households and communities from displacement and homelessness by increasing the sales and use tax rate beginning July 1, 2025, by three-eighths of one percent on taxable sales until the year 2050?
MHP is proud to join more than 60 organizations in endorsing a constitutional amendment for housing.
On Tuesday, May 2nd, MHP’s Executive Director Anne Mavity testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on Housing Transportation and Community Development. The hearing focused on this year’s “Farm Bill” and the opportunity it represents to preserve deeply needed affordable housing in rural communities.
On behalf of the Minnesota ERASE Campaign, we thank the Governor, lawmakers, and Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for the passage of bill HF 2271, which includes $50M in emergency rental assistance (ERA) for the Family Homelessness Prevention and Assistance Program (FHPAP)! This will provide critical support to Minnesota families who are struggling to make ends meet.
The Minnesota ERASE Campaign (End Rental Arrears and Stop Evictions) advocated for lawmakers to approve emergency rental assistance (ERA) before the end of session, and to ensure ERA will reach the lowest income and most marginalized renters. With Minnesotans facing eviction in historically high numbers, emergency rental assistance will help individuals and families remain housed across our state.
The MN ERASE campaign is affiliated with the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s national ERASE Project. Through the efforts of MN ERASE, advocates elevated the need for emergency rental assistance to government and lawmakers. MN ERASE convened renters, landlords, services providers, housing and redevelopment authorities, and other housing advocates to develop ERA recommendations to Minnesota Housing and lawmakers. We are gratified that the result is an investment in helping our neighbors with lower incomes find and stay in their homes.
Keya Wakpala Woiċaġeyapi will be a living community that nourishes the Siċaŋġu spirit and way of life. Affordable and accessible quality-built homes, centered around a community garden and a multi-use gathering space, with places for people to shop and work and for children to play together, Keya Wakpala is a pathway for the Siċaŋġu Lak̇ota Oyate “to reclaim who they are” near Mission, South Dakota.
From its very beginning, Keya Wakpala has been shaped and guided by community voices speaking what they need and want, including dedicated space for food and agriculture, livelihood, and recreation. The homes will be culturally-relevant, adaptable to all family sizes and generations, with room for future growth. This 600-acre site will eventually incorporate athletic facilities, sports fields, a network of walking, biking and hiking trails, small business incubators, retail, restaurants, as well as many other businesses and amenities.
Recently, a new billboard was unveiled to help promote the project! MHP, a technical assistance provider for the project, was thrilled to have the opportunity to use grant funds to commission two talented Siċaŋġu artists Cas and Sonni, as well as a Lakota graphic design professional to bring the project to life!
Olympic Peninsula Extended Needs Housing (OPEN Housing) spent a snowy 1.5 days in Port Angeles, WA with MHP staff members Barbara Dolan, Devon Pohlman, and Courtney Overby on a site visit to complete a needs assessment; exchanging stories, touring properties, and diving into discussions on priorities for the organization. OPEN was formally incorporated in 2019 and currently offers 14 units for rent at two properties in Sequim and Port Angeles. With a mission to “provide sustainable, secure, affordable housing for people with developmental disabilities and low-income others in a shared and integrated community so all can thrive,” OPEN Housing develops low-income housing for adults with disabilities (and other low-income neuro-typical adults) who are willing and able to live and thrive in a shared housing community.
In the US, nearly 75% of adults experiencing intellectual or developmental disabilities live in their family’s home. On the Olympic Peninsula, that number is closer to 99%. Imagine being an adult who wants to live independently, develop social skills, and learn what it means to contribute to their community with nowhere they can afford to go. Out of every four Americans, one experiences an intellectual or developmental disability. housing adults with disabilities shapes the collective future of all of us.
OPEN Housing applied for technical assistance (TA) through MHP’s online application. MHP technical and financial assistance is tailored to help build the capacity of local housing drivers and promote local housing solutions that address gaps in existing services. A needs assessment site visit is the first step for the MHP team and project partners to meet in person, view properties or sites, and build the foundation for a 24-36 month-long working relationship. MHP assesses whether an organization has the capacity and readiness and aligns with its mission in order to be successful when utilizing MHP programs and funding sources. This time together provides MHP staff with the opportunity to connect with individuals, entities, and partners involved in collaboratively crafting a living work plan. Creating affordable housing and building strong communities is complex work!
From left to right: Devon Pohlman (MHP), Barbara Dolan (MHP), Kimberly Ortloff (OPEN Board President), Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin (Port Angeles City Council) Liza Searles (Executive Director), Courtney Overby (MHP)
As part of the OPEN Housing needs assessment, MHP staff worked closely with the team to identify and prioritize organizational challenges. The project team met and heard from local Port Angeles council member Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin about the approach and systemic barriers to housing that the community-at-large faces. MHP staff also heard directly from Dorine Hunter, a former board of directors’ officer, about the significance of the acronym OPEN as a name that supporters would recognize, and about the extensive network of the mothers of those experiencing disabilities, who founded and sustain the organization’s operations and administrative success. Hearing the stories firsthand, in community, forges meaning and structure, and sets the tone for the rest of the technical assistance engagement.
The assessment revealed that OPEN’s communal single-family home model is well-positioned for organizational sustainability and the future development of new housing for IDD adults. MHP’s work plan with OPEN Housing will include board of director recruitment and training and reviewing existing and creating new policies and procedures. OPEN Housing is excited about an update to the website and a rebranding effort in addition to hiring, staff development, and strategic organizational planning.
MHP’s Community Development team delivers the resources and knowledge needed to create and preserve housing and community assets. We collaborate directly with communities, regions, and organizations across the country to achieve their housing and community development goals. From innovative community planning practices to knowledge of complex federal grants and programs, our expertise helps to create effective — and lasting — collaboration among community leaders.
Does your community need knowledge in housing, community, and/or organizational development? Looking for collaborations and partnerships to bring affordable housing to your community? To learn more, contact Devon Pohlman, Director of Community Development at devon.pohlman [at] mhponline.org.
It all began with a Google search. In 2020, with the global pandemic raging, Cheri Tinker felt overwhelmed in her position as Executive Director of the North Olympic Regional Veterans Housing Network (NORVHN), an organization she founded. While NORVHN was experiencing growth, it was all set up on one person’s shoulders. Like many nonprofits, NORVHN evolved from the passion of one individual – in this case, Cheri’s passion was helping homeless vets in her community. But never having run a organization like this before, she built it the only way she knew how. NORVHN’s foundation wasn’t solid, making their important work unsustainable. Cheri turned to an internet search, and stumbled upon MHP. That, she says, was “transformative.”
Once houseless veterans served by Sarge’s Place.
NORVHN works with homeless Veterans of Clallam and Jefferson Counties on the Olympic Penninsula of Washington State, providing emergency shelter and permanent housing for Veterans in Washington State. This includes a 7-unit permanent supportive project built using modular housing, the first of its kind in the State of Washington. They also have a 2-story apartment building in Forks (Sarge’s Place), a second-hand store, a farm, a 4-plex in Port Angeles, and more. At the time Cheri contacted MHP, they had the projects and momentum, what they needed was the structure and support to make it sustainable.
When COVID struck, and NORVHN’s access to grants dried up, they applied for technical assistance with MHP with the goal of making them “whole.” MHP’s work came via the uber capable hands of Deputy Community Development Director Barbara Dolan. Barbara helped Cheri on all of the aspects of an organization that are hidden from the public–the unsexy yet critical work like sound practices, procedures, policies, manuals. She helped streamline their bookkeeping processes, transforming their audits and how grantors viewed their finances. They worked on restructuring the board of directors from elderly Vietnam Vets who didn’t have the capacity to support Cheri’s work, to a highly functioning board who could make important connections in the community. They did strategic planning, succession planning, and built an incredible structure for the organization. As Cheri gushes, “MHP saved our agency—you made it vibrant and healthy again!”
We need your help! Join MHP in advocating for critical investments in housing.
With a historic budget surplus, we have the means and now is the time for lawmakers to prioritize desperately needed investments. $2 billion for housing are needed to ensure that people have access to safe, healthy, and affordable housing.
Contact legislative leaders today to ensure housing is a priority as targets are set for committees.
My name is __ and I live at [___address & city___].
With the historic budget surplus, I urge you to support $2 billion budget targets for housing.
With our budget surplus, we can make a substantial impact on mitigating our housing crisis and creating a more just, equitable housing system. Please prioritize housing this legislative session!
While lawmakers and Minnesota Housing have indicated their interest in fast-tracking emergency rental assistance, through the legislative process, we are still waiting to see a bill. Every day we wait is a day that more Minnesota families face eviction. Please contact legislative leaders to let them know emergency rental assistance is needed NOW to help individuals and families remain housed.
Lawmakers must do everything to ensure no family is displaced and unhoused, especially in the coldest winter months. The result of inaction is families facing an increased risk of homelessness and harm to health, educational outcomes, work stability, and more. When families are evicted, children’s education is disrupted in the middle of the school year. Individuals can’t focus on work when they are worried about finding shelter. With a $17.5 billion surplus, we have the resources to prevent evictions and keep families stably housed.
Call your lawmaker too! Find out who represents you: here
Suggested message:
My name is __ and I live at [___address & city___]. Please fast-track a bill to provide emergency rental assistance to Minnesota families. Evictions are happening at historically high rates, with children experiencing some of the greatest harms from housing instability and poverty. From Duluth to Rochester to St Paul, families need ERA to prevent homelessness! Without state ERA funds, Minnesotans have nowhere to go for help.
[tell your story – why is this important, why we need ERA now (we can’t wait)].
The vast majority of evictions are avoidable by providing families with assistance to pay the rent – fast-tracking emergency rental assistance is a win-win for renters and housing providers. Thank you!
On January 11th, Minnesota housing advocates packed the Capitol Rotunda for a rousing rally to launch the legislative session. Government leaders called for housing investment, including Governor Tim Walz, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic, Minnesota Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho, House Majority Leader Jamie Long, Senator Lindsey Port, Representative Michael Howard, and Hennepin County Commissioner Irene Fernando.
We are excited in both House and Senate leadership making a commitment to Bring it Home, of which MHP is an endorser. We are also optimistic that Source of Income Protections, which Rep Her is prioritizing, will get across the finish line. Source of Income Protections will only grow in importance as we advance Bring it Home. People who get a rent voucher need protections to ensure they can use their voucher to access safe, quality homes.
In addition to government officials we heard from people with the lived experience of struggling with housing, including Patrice Kunesh of the Native American Rights Fund and MHP board member, who realized the value of housing stability when she found herself living in public housing with her two young daughters – which was neither safe nor stable. Kunesh decried the disparities in housing in Minnesota, where Native people account for 8 percent of Minnesota’s homeless adult population, though they represent about 2% of the population, the largest disparity of any group in the state. She ended with a call for $2B for housing this year and housing on the ballot in 2024!
Becky Zoubeck and her two children live in a Habitat for Humanity home in Faribault built in conjunction with South Central College. As a Habitat homeowner, Becky has personally experienced both the lack of affordable housing in Greater Minnesota and the transformational effects of housing stability.
Sedia Omar of the New American Development Center addresses housing advocates
Sedia Omar of the New American Development Center, spoke directly to the question of a constitutional amendment for housing: “You may see a home as a four-wall place, but to East African families and the families we serve, a home means comfort, security.” Sedia continued with “These investments need to be at scale and for decades. We need a new approach, as the status quo has contributed to our housing crisis. We need new solutions. Our proposal for a Constitutional Amendment ensures that frontline leaders and grassroots groups and people with lived experience are decision-makers so that solutions are community driven. … A constitutional amendment ensures long-term investments in home.”
Jim Bargmann, a member of the Bring it Home Coalition emphasized the need for solutions as big as our problems: “Bring it Home, Minnesota will not only be life changing, but society changing. Families who can now afford their housing can move forward!”
Mary McGovern, president of the Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council (MHRC), the city-wide public housing high-rise tenant organization, representing over 5000 residents living in the city’s 42 public housing highrises also spoke about the need for investment in housing.
Housing investments are an excellent strategy for deploying our state’s historic surplus to leverage long-term, generational benefits for Minnesota. Every corner of Minnesota needs more homes that are affordable to families and seniors and ensure local businesses can recruit the growing workforce they need to expand and thrive.
Each year, there are at least three requests to Minnesota Housing for housing project funding for every one that can actually be funded; these projects are shovel-ready right now and once built, will offer safe, decent, stable homes for generations of hard-working Minnesotans.
Communities around the state—from Greater Minnesota’s rural areas to cities like Duluth and St. Cloud—are feeling the squeeze of rising costs that have put homes out of reach of too many families. Our state leaders have an opportunity to come together to ensure that all our neighbors have homes from which to build their future.
Everyone needs a home – this is a bipartisan solution that can provide a fundamental building block of our State’s success. We need housing stability for all aspects of life: to maintain our health, to hold a job, for our kids to get their homework done. A stable home makes anything possible.
It’s time to raise expectations for the level of investments we need in homes for every Minnesotan. Tell your state leaders why housing is so important to you and your family today!
