Review of Beacon’s Supportive Housing Advocacy in the 2026 Legislative Session
In January, we gathered at Beacon’s Convening 2026: Faith in Home to kick off a legislative session full of opportunity: opportunity for advocates to come together, make our voices heard, and move forward legislation that boosts supportive housing. Our movement is growing, powered by people, including you, who are united in the belief that everyone deserves a home.
Now, six months later, lawmakers have finished their important work for the session. We achieved mixed results, and it leaves us grateful for all we did together. We especially honor all the congregations and individuals who stood up with us determined to continue because of what is at stake.
Through rallies, emails, meetings with lawmakers, testimony at the Capitol, clergy advocacy, and more, Beacon advocates showed up strong for one clear goal: to protect and sustain the supportive housing system that thousands of Minnesotans rely on.
Our Priorities
With a federal retreat in funding, including HUD shifting the nationwide Continuum of Care (CoC) program away from funding supportive housing (which it previously primarily funded), protecting this proven solution to homelessness was more important than ever. Because of Beacon’s advocates, our voice was loud and clear.
We had four legislative priorities this session:
- Pass State funding for supportive housing to replace uncertain federal funding in 2026 and 2027.
Our top legislative priority was securing state funds to protect supportive housing from unstable federal dollars. While advocacy successfully pushed Congress and the courts to order HUD to honor its 2026 funding contracts with providers like beacon, the agency has yet to release the funds.
It was an incredibly tough and competitive year for funding dollars at the State legislature. Beacon and our partners’ persistent advocacy until the end allowed us to achieve $13 million in funding for supportive housing.
We are grateful for this achievement, but because the Minnesota Legislature allocated only a portion of the federal funds that supportive housing relies on this year, our programs still face immense uncertainty. Without much of a state safety net, we need HUD to comply with congressional and court orders to pay out 2026 funding to keep programs at current levels. We expect HUD to continue defunding supportive housing in 2027, and we cannot count on Congress or the courts to step in again. This means we must achieve long-term stability independent of federal dollars and work even harder at the state, county, and local levels to build a reliable funding system that protects our residents.
- Make essential changes to the State Housing Tax Credit that would allow Minnesotans to direct their contributions to the full range of supportive housing needs and services, not just to capital developments.
We continued to build momentum for this program (you can read more about it here), but larger fights over taxes this year blocked any meaningful change to the State Housing Tax Credit. We will continue utilizing this essential program in its current form and work to update it in 2027.
- Help advance the Our Future Starts at Home campaign to achieve dedicated, reliable funding for housing.
The “Our Future Starts at Home” campaign is working to create an ongoing funding source for housing, which relies on state legislators passing a constitutional amendment that would result in a new state-wide sales tax. This tax revenue would help support housing across the state by:
- Supporting homeownership (25%)
- Increasing community and household stability (25%)
- Increasing access to rental opportunities (50%)
Our Future Starts at Home offers a direct pathway to more than double the number of rental vouchers created by Bring it Home, Minnesota, and creates sustainable funding for supportive housing. Given the state’s current fiscal and political outlook, this constitutional amendment offers the only clear path toward expanding the Bring it Home state rental assistance program and creating real investment into our supportive housing system.
This year, the Our Future Starts at Home campaign’s goal was to continue raising awareness of the issue and build momentum for next year; we achieved that by showing up in large groups and speaking at five hearings with legislators.
- Support funding for emergency rental assistance to make sure all people can stay in their homes, especially those impacted by Operation Metro Surge.
The legislature passed $40 million for emergency rental assistance through the Family Homelessness Prevention and Assistance Program to help families across Minnesota who are in need, especially those who have been impacted by Operation Metro Surge.
Celebrating Together!
What kicked off in January is now complete: we’ve gathered through monthly advocacy Rent is Due calls, convened at the Capitol, rallied, emailed, sent over 45 pounds of postcards, met lawmakers, and advocated with Beacon and with our congregations. We know that supportive housing works, and we’re making it happen, together.
In celebration of our work and our successes, we gathered on Thursday, June 4 to reflect on the legislative session, acknowledge what we built together, and share what comes next in the work to ensure everyone has a place to call home.
