As with any legislative session, a wide variety of issues are being discussed and debated. Among these are many housing-related issues.

Recently, a bill to ban the construction of single-family for rent homes by corporations, has stood out as housing leaders look to address the state’s housing supply crisis. And now, this proposal has caught the attention of national housing thought leaders.

The bill, as it is written, broadly attempts to end corporate ownership of single-family homes for rent. Homeownership advocacy groups have led efforts to strike the single-family construction ban from HF 685/SF 365, citing the harm created by further limiting the state’s already depleted housing supply.

The issue remains in the committee process in both the house and senate.

National thought leader Salim Furth, a senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, recently submitted commentary published this week in the Star Tribune.

Furth concluded his thoughts with the statement:  “Minnesota lawmakers would do better to loosen zoning rules so that every neighborhood can offer a mix of housing options and serve Minnesotans of all races, incomes and stages of life.”

Read the full commentary here.