Housing and Redevelopment Authority - Regular Meeting

All right. I will call the Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting to order. Roll call, please.

Jebin Singh. Here. McGuire. Here. McMurtry. Here. Miller. Here. Moran. Here. Ortega. Aye. And Zong.

Here. Item number one. The agenda of July 7, 2026 is presented for approval. So moved. Second. Seeing no further discussion, roll call, please.

McGuire.

Aye.

McMurtry. Aye. Miller. Aye. Moran. Aye. Ortega. Aye. Jebensingh. Aye. And Zong.

Aye.

Item number two. The minutes from June 23, 2026 are presented for approval. So moved. Second. All right. See no further discussion. Roll call, please.

McGuire.

Aye.

McMurtry. Aye. Miller. Aye. Moran. Aye. Ortega. Aye. Jebensingh. Aye. And Zong.

Aye. Item number three. THE OBLIGATION OF PATHWAYS TO REDUCING OBSTACLES TO HOUSING FUNDING FOR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.

I HAVE TO PULL THAT ITEM?

YEP. COMMISSIONER MCMARTRY.

THANK YOU, MADAM CHAIR. YEAH, I JUST WANT TO GIVE MAX OR JOSH, WHOEVER, SOME TIME TO SHARE A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE PROCESS OF SELECTING THE AWARDEE HERE. AND THEN THERE ARE A COUPLE OF FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS THAT I HAD.

And then Commissioner McMurtry, may I just ask you to move it so we can have a discussion?

Yes. I move item three, obligation of pathways to reducing obstacles to housing funding for housing development projects.

Second. Chair, commissioners. Today, I present you the second of five board actions relating to the 2026 housing development solicitation. So on June 23, we brought the recommended awards for HRA levy or Housing Redevelopment Authority levy to the HRA board. This is our second board action of the same solicitation. So out of that same pool of 45 applications that we reviewed, scored, and underwrote, This is a new funding source, so it comes in a separate board action. This is obligation to pathways to reducing obstacles to housing or pro-housing funds. And we're recommending one project out of that. That scored highly in that 2026 housing development solicitation. It is the... face-to-face at Arcade. This is a city of HRA-owned lot on Arcade that will be transformed into a 24-unit supportive housing building for youth transitioning out of homelessness, ages 16 to 24, in that kind of youth category as defined by the federal government. These will all be housing support units. So this is in partnership with the Housing Stability Department. And we are about 13% of the construction costs of this building, as it has an additional award from the Emerging Diverse Developers solicitation in 2024 as well. So it's taken a little time to get this capital stack working for this project. And I think it'll be a transformative project for both Arcade Street and the youth who will be selected to live in these units off of coordinated entry as well.

Two quick follow-up questions. First, was this the only applicant that met the criteria for pro-funding? Were there any others that applied or were they the only one?

As we continued our underwriting conversations with our other partner governments who are also funding projects, we were looking for projects that scored highly in our process, but we're also going to stack other federal funds to kind of have some efficiencies within that process. And so we believe that this project will be awarded other federal funds through other local agencies as well, and so we thought it a good fit for our federal funds.

Gotcha. And I appreciate that explanation. And knowing that with our housing development solicitation, there are so many different funding sources, can you provide us with just a very brief reminder? What's the difference between the pro funds versus LAHA versus SAHA versus HRA, just so we can understand the breadth of housing that's going to be supported through these different funding sources?

Absolutely. Chair, commissioners, in this year's 2026 housing development solicitation, we brought forth five funding sources that could be connected to an eligible housing project. Those were the HRA levy, the pro-housing funds, local affordable housing aid, or LAHA, state affordable housing aid, or SAHA, and home funds, which are federal funds, Home Investment Partnerships Act. And they all have different eligible uses. And they overlap, but some of the funds are more effectively or efficiently used in certain ways. For example, home funds will be attached to owner-occupied projects in our suburban Ramsey County area, as those are eligible uses. And it's more effective and efficient to use those funds in that way, rather than attaching them to an eligible project that may be eligible for that type of funds, but would be very burdensome to get through the whole process with. So we're always looking about ways, what are the eligible uses, and then what are the rules and requirements around each funding source. In the housing development solicitation, we had eligible uses of both rental housing and owner-occupied, new construction and preservation, and so kind of matching those five sources to each type of eligible use after scoring, underwriting, and prioritization.

Commissioner Moran, and then Miller, and then Jemison.

So I want to apologize first, because you probably stated this, but I just didn't hear it. This is about reducing the obstacles. I would like to see the word removed obstacles, but can you tell me what you're doing to reduce?

Yeah, Chair, Commissioners, that's the name of the federal grant. Oh, that's what it's called. Pathways to Reducing Obstacles to Housing, or PRO. We jointly applied to this grant with the Metropolitan Council back in 2024, and it took about a year to get under agreement with both the Met Council and the federal government, and now these funds became available in 2026. So unfortunately not the opportunity to change the name of the grant.

All right, thank you.

That I did read that the pro was a grant are we expected that that's a grant that will continue to apply for X I do know that we're just one of the funding or one of the sub recipients I believe Met Council was the recipient. We're one of them in Hennepin County, correct and

Yes. Chair, commissioners, I believe this to be a one-time grant for us. The Metropolitan Council received a second tranche of an additional year of funds, and that will be used on planning and policy work for local cities. Hennepin County is no longer participating in this grant, so it's just Metropolitan Council and Ramsey County at this time.

Okay. I guess I was just – when we applied for the grant, Hennepin County was a part of it. Yes. when they received the $5 million and we were allocated the $1.3 million, then does the Met Council refigure that amount, and could there be a chance to receive more from that pot, or is Met Council just keeping the Hennepin County portion for the continued planning in cities?

Chair, Commissioners, Hennepin County determined it best to just have the Metropolitan County administer their portion, and it will be for policy and planning programs within Hennepin County.

Okay, that makes sense. Thank you And then you did answer my other a couple of my other questions I had but I do just want to state that I really appreciated seeing on the I Highlighted it here that a declaration will be recorded against the property's title that requires rental affordability for at least 30 years and that our team will still be Continuing to monitor that to maintain that so I appreciate that that just shows us that we're committed. So, thank you. I

Great question, Commissioner Miller. Also just wanted to add that these are funds under the Biden administration. Yeah. So definitely one time. Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that through many of our housing workshops, folks have to entertain a general theme for me, which is for us to consider supportive housing as part of our investments in affordable housing. And I just want to congratulate that this project will be targeting services and homes for people for an often very underserved population of our young people who are experiencing housing instability for all sorts of reasons. And so to have not only affordable but supportive housing for this community is tremendously of need. So I appreciate that while you're trying to stack all of the different projects that will be fiscally successful for a developer, I just want to highlight that this also uplifts many of our other goals as well. So thank you for that.

All right. Any other questions or comments? Seeing no further discussion, roll call, please.

McGuire. Aye. McMurtry. Aye. Miller. Aye. Moran. Aye. Ortega. Aye. Jebensingh. Aye. And Zhang.

Aye. And next, I know we're running late, but I just want to highlight for folks that along with at NACO, they had a call for about the housing bill that passed Congress that's now sitting on the president's desk. It's being termed and coined as like once in like several decades that this is the biggest type of overhaul in investment. into housing policy that Congress has passed. It is sitting on his desk. Unfortunately, he has said publicly that he will not pass it unless the SAVE Act is passed. So I just wanted to share this that, you know, again, continued calls for this bill would be great because it both streamlines access to critical disaster recovery funding through the CDBG block grant, It also provides some exemptions for the bill now that counties were asking for. Additionally, it also includes and expands the use of home programs. These are all programs that affect us as well. And also, there's a language about institutional investors that were added that Investors over 350 single family homes can't purchase anymore after that amount of 350 single family homes. So it is definitely like a compromise of what gets churned in the sausage making of policy. But, you know, this is a big overhaul, too, that's sitting at the president's desk.

I doubted that that's going to be signed.

Madam Chair, just to remind the public who's watching that the SAVE Act is this election bill that really restricts elections. So he wants, he'll only pass the housing if they pass this horrible election bill that, thank heavens, they shouldn't pass that either. But so... You know, unfortunately, if he holds to that, then neither of these, then the housing bill won't pass either. It's a horrible way to be governing. Yes.

Any other comments? Like I do have the order? All right. Thank you all. Meeting adjourned.