Response to House DFL Funding Proposal for Bring it Home, Minnesota
On February 16, the Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party announced their 2022 session housing proposal and budget. Below is our response to this proposal.
Families in every county across Minnesota will benefit when we ensure they get the rent support they deserve. Fully funding Bring it Home, Minnesota through HF40/SF333 legislation will help 550,000 of our neighbors breathe easier because they won’t have to keep paying more than they can afford toward rent.
We celebrate the visionary housing agenda laid out by the House DFL and House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler today that starts the right scale of increases in investments to housing. For too long, we have invested too little in housing. This is the right first step to begin funding ongoing rent support in the manner we are calling for in the Bring it Home, Minnesota campaign. We are especially grateful to Chair Rep. Alice Hausman, who has been a tireless champion for housing throughout her career, and Rep. Michael Howard, a strong and steady voice for home and the lead author of HF40 Bring it Home, Minnesota legislation.
The $400 million for rent support proposed by Representatives Hausman and Howard represents a historic and long-overdue moment for housing stability in Minnesota. Advocates from communities across the state built to this moment through sustained, vocal, values-driven efforts to prioritize home and invest in housing as the foundation of a Minnesota that works for all of us. Their dedication has helped ignite the public will to rightly elevate home in state budget conversations.
While $400 million is a major and welcome increase over current state spending for rent support, it still falls far short of addressing the scope of our housing crisis and must be increased. Families in Minnesota are barely hanging on. We need a solution as big as the problem.
The housing crisis families are facing stems from years of underfunding affordable housing and supports. This pattern of partial funding cannot continue. Advocates will continue to join with families in calling for Bring it Home, Minnesota to be fully funded so every Minnesotan – not just a larger handful – gets the rent support they deserve.
To learn more and be part of the solution to our housing crisis, visit www.bringithomeminnesota.org
