HF1489

Purpose

• Provide funding to rehabilitate and preserve public housing for low-income residents by financing rehabilitation projects through state bond proceeds.

Main Provisions

• Subdivision 1 — Appropriation
  • An amount of 100,000,000 is appropriated from the bond proceeds fund to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.
  • The money will be transferred to the housing development fund to finance the costs of rehabilitation to preserve public housing.
  • Public housing is defined as housing for low-income persons and households financed by the federal government and publicly owned.
  • The agency may prioritize proposals that maximize federal or local resources to finance capital costs and that prioritize health, safety, and energy improvements.
  • The usual statutory priority for projects that increase the supply of affordable housing (and certain restrictions on that priority) do not apply to this appropriation.
• Subdivision 2 — Bond sale
  • The money appropriated may be sold and issued as state bonds up to 100,000,000.
  • Bond terms and issuance must follow Minnesota Statutes sections 16A.631 to 16A.675 and the Minnesota Constitution, Article XI, sections 4 to 7.

Significant Changes to Existing Law

• This appropriation is exempt from the standard priority framework that normally prioritizes increasing the supply of affordable housing and from related restrictions, allowing a focus on public housing rehabilitation.
• The bill explicitly directs the use of bond financing to rehab and preservation of public housing rather than broader affordable housing supply expansion, and it emphasizes leveraging federal/local resources plus health, safety, and energy improvements.

Key Terms and Concepts (for context)

• public housing
• rehabilitation
• preservation of public housing
• Minnesota Housing Finance Agency
• housing development fund
• bond proceeds fund
• low-income housing
• federal resources
• health and safety improvements
• energy improvements
• bond sale / bonds
• 16A.631 to 16A.675 (bond issuance statutes)
• Minnesota Constitution Article XI

Relevant Terms public housing, rehabilitation, preservation, low-income, federal resources, health safety, energy improvements, bond proceeds fund, housing development fund, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, bond sale, 16A.631-16A.675, Constitution Article XI