In March, DFL leaders from the House and Senate introduced its ‘All Roads Lead Back to Home‘ plan, a series of proposals aimed at addressing homelessness, investments in development infrastructure, and various rental support programs.

Several stand-alone bills are moving on several issues relating to housing regulatory and workforce policies. In many other states, lifting barriers to structure and lot size, and cutting process red tape have been top priorities. With the exception of the Minnesota House of Representatives discussing‘Legalize Affordable Housing’, housing priorities in Minnesota have been primarily focused elsewhere.

Industry leaders say that some of the priorities under consideration would actually create new, additional barriers, increasing the likelihood that the state’s housing deficit grows. Proposals cited as new barriers include the expansion of energy code adoption policies, banning the construction of
single-family homes for rent, and a proposal to overhaul the industry workforce structure relationship between general and sub-contractors.

“The cost of housing and new construction in Minnesota is dramatically more expensive than all surrounding states. Weather and cost of building materials cannot be blamed for the cost difference because weather and the cost of building materials are comparable in surrounding states,” said State Senator Eric Lucero.

“Unfortunately, the Democrat majority has put little effort into determining the root cause of expensive housing in Minnesota and even less effort into increasing supply of housing new construction. It is effectively illegal to build affordable housing in Minnesota. The only way to achieve more housing supply is to remove government barriers and over-regulation and getting government out of the way is among the priorities Republicans are fighting for.”