Is Minnesota Facing a Affordable Housing Shortage?

The Housing Affordability Institute recently released a study saying “up to 1/3 of a new home’s price in the Twin Cities comes from regulation and local policies.”

A majority of Minnesotans said that they felt the best way to improve the local housing market was to reduce fees and other expensive regulations put onto home buyers. “Minnesotans at all levels of the housing ecosystem are facing an affordability challenge,” said David Siegel, executive director of Housing First Minnesota. “As we enter the final weeks of the legislative session, we are hopeful that the legislature and Governor Walz will show they are serious about addressing this problem.”

In a new report released by the Housing Affordability Institute titled
Priced Out: The True Cost of Minnesota’s Broken Housing Market , Minnesotans statewide view a shortage of affordable home options.

• 55% state that Minnesotans’ face a shortage of affordable housing
• 28% state that Minnesota has the right amount of affordable housing
• 5% state that Minnesota has too many affordable housing options

This same group also stated that:

• 50% believe the best way to make Minnesota’s housing market more affordable is by reducing fees and costly regulations.
• 34% believe the best way to make housing more affordable is by investing in energy efficiency…

But with this information, local home builders, such as SW Wold, are building thousands of homes to address the housing shortage.
While this plan carries a hefty price tag for the state, DFL Rep. Alice Hausman of St. Paul, chair of a new House housing panel, said there’s growing, bipartisan recognition among lawmakers of the need for more affordable housing.