• MHP Presenting at Enterprise’s 2025 Rural Housing Preservation Academy

    MHP Presenting at Enterprise’s 2025 Rural Housing Preservation Academy

    Enterprise Community Partners is hosting two days of conversation August 6-7 about Affordable housing development and preservation in Knoxville, Tennessee. This in-person convening is an extension of the Rural Rental Preservation Academy and will focus on policies, funding, and innovative strategies to address rural affordability at the federal, state, and local level. MHP Community Development staff Leah Hall and Jen Oscarson will be presenting on Day One.

    Day One’s presentations will be on successful approaches to preserving affordable housing in rural communities across the country, with a particular focus on the preservation of the USDA 515 portfolio. There will be a focus on layering new financing into preservation projects and national policy efforts to support the preservation of the USDA housing portfolio. Day Two will focus on policy, research and programs in the Appalachian region that support affordable housing development and preservation in rural communities. Register by Aug 4, 2025

    Learn about the Rural Rental Preservation Academy.

    Jenny Jones

    ,
    , , ,

  • Looking for FREE Community Development Services? Apply now!

    Is your community facing a lack of affordable housing? Do you work for an organization that could benefit from enhanced local knowledge, training, and strategic partnerships? MHP is excited to open its application for FREE technical assistance for housing and community development! View MHP’s Request for Technical Assistance (RFTA) Application here.

    MHP’s renowned Strengthening Rural Communities Program (funded through an eighth-consecutive Rural Capacity Building award from HUD), delivers technical and financial assistance to rural entities and Native Nations across the country, increasing their capacity to meet current and future housing needs—at no cost to RFTA awardees. By increasing local capacity, we position beneficiaries of the assistance to achieve their unique vision and sustain housing and community development successes long after MHP’s work is complete.  

    MHP has the expertise to assist with a variety of issues, including housing development, housing program development, organizational development, funding and resource development, and community engagement and outreach. Since 2014, MHP staff provided direct assistance to over 132 beneficiaries through customized and individual workplans; including assistance with 54 community development projects. The result: 577 affordable units are in the development process, with 33 new units completed, and 632 housing units have been rehabbed/preserved.. The assistance also contributed to the success of 41 businesses (including 8 new ones) and boosted their local economies.  Read about the impact of this technical assistance in just a few communities here:

    Priority is given to organizations currently engaged in housing development as a part of their mission or actively working to build their housing development capacity. MHP also works with such entities as rural housing development organizations (RHDOs), local units of government and political subdivisions, tribal governments and tribal corporate entities, and CHDOs and CDCs. Statewide or state-affiliated entities are not eligible.  

    Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. Click here to access the application directly. MHP will follow up within forty-five days to schedule a collaborative review of your application. MHP is an equal opportunity assistance provider and markets its technical assistance program to communities historically facing housing disparities. More information paper copies of all materials are available upon request.  

    We want to work with you! Please reach out with any questions:

    Via Phone: 651-925-5545 

    Via Email: [email protected] 

    Via Fax: 651.649.1725 

    Apply for MHP’s FREE Assistance Here

    Brian Muhs

    , ,
    , , , ,

  • New grant funds for three states boost rural development

    Rural Capacity Building Grant award locationsAs the result of a recent federal grant, MHP staff are preparing for work in three rural US communities: Osage County, Oklahoma, the Lakes & Pines Region of E. Central Minnesota, and Bowman and Golden Valley counties in North Dakota. All three communities, which have undertaken extensive planning and strategizing, are poised to implement a wide variety of development projects under the grant.

    “The grant will enable the communities to translate their plans into action and implement strategies that yield actual development and housing on the ground.” -Rosemary Fagrelius, Community Development Director at MHP

    The work to be completed in northeastern Oklahoma will be in collaboration with The Pawhuska Indian Village, which plans to develop more energy-efficient and culturally relevant housing and create greater food sovereignty through community-supported agriculture.

    The Lakes & Pines community, which was one of the Minnesota’s hardest hit regions in the recession, is planning to create more rental housing and to implement a single-family home improvement rehab program.

    In light of rapid growth since the oil boom of the mid-2000s, Bowman and Golden Valley counties want to diversify the local economy outside the oil and gas industries to ensure the economic stability of the region. Local agencies plan to increase access to affordable homeownership, for the benefit of residents and the region.

    ND Crew Camp Housing.
    “Crew camp” housing scatters the northwestern North Dakota landscape as a temporary solution to population swells since the oil boom. Photo taken by Capacity Building Manager, Bill Vanderwall.

    MHP has a history working with each of the recipient communities, which will help kick-start these new activities. MHP staff have worked with a number of agencies in Lakes & Pines through MHP’s Housing Institute, and in North Dakota through work with the groundbreaking Vision West initiative. Work with the Osage Nation builds on MHP’s longstanding partnerships within the American Indian community, most notably with members of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations. MHP staff look forward to the work ahead and the opportunity to continue supporting the growth and success of rural communities nationwide.

    RobynLingen

    ,
    ,