Minnesota lawmakers hope to make housing cheaper this session
The Brief
A bipartisan group of legislators has come together to address what they call a "housing crisis that's only getting worse".
Minnesota is short of almost 115,000 homes for what the population needs. That number has more than doubled in 6-7 years.
The shortage means mortgages and rents are expensive, and a lot of people are priced out of homeownership.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota needs more places for people to live, and legislators hope that seven bills they're proposing can address the problem.
Shortage worsens:
A housing shortage is driving up rents and mortgages, generally making it more expensive to have a roof over your head.
A bipartisan group of legislators is taking another swing at improvements, but that doesn't mean it can just sail through.
The situation was similar last year, and nothing happened at the Capitol.
But now, both Democrats and Republicans are calling it a crisis that's only getting worse.
Double trouble:
Construction hasn't completely stopped, but Minnesota has a housing problem.
In 2018, Minnesota had 50,000 fewer housing units than the population needed.
Almost seven years later the housing shortage is about 115,000.
"Every moment we wait to take action, we fall further behind," said Sen. Lindsey Port (DFL-Burnsville), one of the leaders of the failed 2024 push and the 2025 push as well.
Homeownership delayed:
What does that do to the American Dream?
It's delayed. The median age for a first-time homebuyer is now 38.
"We hear it all the time," said Rep. Michael Howard (DFL-Richfield). "Housing costs too damn much.""The median cost of a new single family home is over $540,000," said Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, (R-Fergus Falls). "And that puts homeownership out of reach for many working Minnesotans."
Older homes can be less expensive, but the median price is still over $350,000.
Try, try again:
Attempts failed last year to pass a large housing bill addressing many of the same issues.
They seemed to have bipartisan support, but got no Republican votes in committee after strong opposition from cities.
"A lot of the cities are now finally realizing they've got a housing problem on their hands," said Rep. Jim Nash, (R-Waconia). "And for the first time that I can remember, they're coming to us and saying, 'yeah, you're right. We know that we're not building enough homes'."
Lucky seven:
Seven bills aiming to remove barriers, headlined by bills making it easier to build less expensive single-family homes and to force cities to allow more multifamily home construction.
They also want to erase parking mandates across the state.
The bills aren't finalized yet, so the folks who opposed the big bills last year haven't weighed in yet.
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