An official website of the POLICY 2: Affordable options to own and rent
This policy states:
Support and incentivize development, preservation, and maintenance of affordable housing units of all types and tenure (rental, shared equity, and ownership) that reflect what residents can afford.
ACTIONS
Provide
Actions that describe how the Met Council will direct actions and support regional housing goals through programs, assistance, and funding, including grant priorities and criteria, voucher programs, and technical assistance.
Plan
Actions that describe how the Met Council adopts plans under the regional development guide through its housing authority to review municipal comprehensive plan updates and plan for other integral processes that will encompass the physical, social, or economic needs of the region.
Partner
Actions that describe how the Met Council will collaborate with residents, local governments, organizations, and regional experts to improve housing choice and accessibility and reduce housing inequities. These actions also describe how the Met Council will seek national and state opportunities to engage on housing issues that further the vision and values of the region.
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Provide technical assistance and share strategies with counties and local governments to coordinate use of new sources of housing funding and to develop affordable housing opportunities through local program development.
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Livable Communities Act grant programs:
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Support more homeownership development opportunities by increasing funding for the Affordable Homeownership program.
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Provide grants to prioritize affordable housing options via brownfield and infill site redevelopment.
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Explore, in partnership with Environmental Services and community stakeholders, financial support or other resources to reduce the Publicly Assisted Housing/Conservation Sewer Availability Charge (SAC) for deeply affordable housing projects.
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Partner with Environmental Services to update the Publicly Assisted Housing/Conservation SAC reduction policy to better reflect publicly subsidized affordable housing developments.
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Maintain and improve an accessible data infrastructure to advance knowledge and awareness of the region's housing stock and demographic characteristics.
- Explore the Met Council's ability to use Met Council-owned land to support affordable housing development, especially in identified Transit-Oriented Development areas.
- Provide data and best practices to encourage all levels of government to identify opportunities for publicly owned land to be made available for affordable housing where appropriate.
- Explore opportunities for Metro HRA to expand capacity for programs that increase the ability for voucher holders to build wealth and access the housing of their choice as their economic situation changes.
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Proactively engage American Indian and Black voucher holders in wealth-building strategies and any potential homeownership programs.
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Explore the potential for a Met Council role in monitoring changes in ownership of rental housing properties in the region.
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In partnership with Environmental Services, seek opportunities to defray the costs for manufactured home communities to connect to the wastewater system.
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Provide data reflecting the need of local governments to plan for the development of low-income affordable ownership opportunities based on cities’ and townships’ existing deficit of affordable ownership options.
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Require that local comprehensive plans specify the development and preservation tools they will seek to use or continue to use throughout the decade to meet their local need for low-income affordable ownership options.
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Require that local governments identify tools they will seek to use or continue to use to create a variety of housing types and tenures across all income levels in their comprehensive plan update.
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Housing types can include cooperative, shared ownership, mixed-tenure, or ownership opportunities, including preservation of manufactured housing and development of townhomes, small multifamily, and accessory dwelling units.
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Rental housing opportunities to meet the community needs can include larger units for larger family sizes, single-room-occupancy options, or other types of rental units not adequately provided by the housing market.
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Increase collaboration with local and county housing organizations to prioritize and fund programs that increase, through development or preservation, all affordable housing tenures (rental, cooperative, limited and/or full homeownership).
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Support the convening of a regional conversation to reduce barriers across state, regional, county, and city affordable housing funding programs.
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Participate in local, regional, and state conversations and initiatives supporting the rehabilitation and preservation of all types of affordable housing.
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Partner with American Indian organizations to develop technical assistance on homeownership assistance on pathways and programs to homeownership and communicate these to regional partners in order to increase understanding of the pathways to American Indian homeownership programs.
