The state’s role in financing regional housing priorities: Minnesota’s Consolidated RFP
May 30, 2018
Like most public sector funders, Minnesota Housing, the state’s housing finance agency, strives to make sure that our limited resources encourage housing developers and other private sector partners to address both state and local priorities. One unique challenge for a state is creating a fair system and a timely process that works across vast geographies with diverse housing interests. The goals and needs of Greater Minnesota, for example, are quite different from those of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. And even within the Twin Cities, needs differ across core cities and exurban communities.
Last year, I attended a convening of Brookings’s Community of Practice on Regional Housing Solutions. There, I shared information on Minnesota’s Consolidated Request for Proposals, which is an initiative that brings together multiple funding partners to advance state and regional housing priorities. In the last three years, the Consolidated Request for Proposals (RFP) has dedicated $298.9 million in investment from Minnesota Housing and partners, resulting in $883 million in housing development activity for the creation or preservation of 5,074 affordable housing opportunities.