Overview

Goal: People at all income levels have housing opportunities throughout the region.

Housing is more than shelter. Our community needs stable neighborhoods where families can put down roots. Children need safe, stable homes and neighborhoods to flourish. Having affordable housing available throughout the metro area is important to a strong economy. It reduces worker shortages for employers, and transportation problems for workers. Concentrations of poverty in neighborhoods make them less stable, decreases property values and makes the area less desirable for businesses.

what's happening

Minnesota continues to have one of the highest home ownership rates in the U.S., but the proportion of the region’s households are cost-burdened, that is pay 30 percent or more of their income for housing, increased during the 2000s from about 24 percent to about 36 percent. The homeownership gap between Whites and Persons Of Color is substantially worse than for the U.S.

making connections

Stable housing improves a child's chance for school success.
A vibrant economy depends on a workforce that has stable, affordable housing.