(ST. PAUL, MN) – Today Senate Republicans announced a plan to “Legalize the American Dream” through housing regulation reform and reduced building fees. The package of bills is a response to recent reporting about the extremely competitive housing market, especially for first-time buyers.
“There isn’t a single, silver bullet to open up the housing market for Minnesotans,” said Senator Rich-Draheim (R-Madison Lake). “Really what we’re trying to do here is ‘Legalize the America Dream’ so home builders can build toward market needs, buyers can find what they want, and our economy can keep growing.” Draheim is the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Home Ownership Affordability and Availability. “We heard at our subcommittee meetings how much the regulations and fees are hurting any interest from builders to even try to meet the needs of first-time buyers. While bonding funds might be one angle, it doesn’t address the root cause of the problem: the ability for builders and non-profits to build affordable homes. Rather than a cash infusion of bonding dollars as a quick fix, our bills will actually provide long-term flexibility, lower costs, and work across the state, not just in the metro.”
The bills cover a range of issues with building codes, zoning codes, and permitting fees.
“Reforming the state building code is the best step we can take to getting families into homeownership,” said Senator Karin Housley (R- St. Mary’s Point) “My bill freezes the code for the next six years unless the changes are passed by the legislature, exempting changes that protect the immediate health, safety, and welfare of the public. Additionally, it limits the number of different inspections by a city for one home. Extra inspections all come at a cost to the builder and then the homeowner.”
Following a demonstration of state-mandated window clips, Senator Housley explained how the window clips, which cost on average $800-1000 per single-family home, and extra inspections, get passed onto home buyers. According to the National Association of Home Builders, for every $1,000 in the cost of a home, 3,000 people are priced out of buying a home.
“It’s extremely difficult to build one-level homes for first-time buyers and move-down buyers right now. I’m concerned with the trend away from affordability. Our population is growing, but it’s becoming more difficult to house them,” said Tony Wiener, Vice President of Cardinal Homes.
He said affordable is generally between $200,000 and $250,000 for most buyers. Wiener described turning people away that wanted homes in that range explaining it’s not possible to build a home at that price in Minnesota due to regulations.
“I’m just a small building with a family business. I could have a line around my building if I could deliver homes in that price range,” Weiner said. “We’d all be surprised at how willing buyers are to buy simple, well-built homes that make up a safe, sustainable neighborhood,” he concluded.
“We’ve done a lot of work to understand the regulatory cost of codes for homes ownership,” said Senator Bill Weber (R-Luverne). “We understand we can’t get rid of every rule and regulation, but at the end of the day, we need to make sure consumers are not paying additional money just to help local budgets out. At the end of the day, our goal is to make more homes available to more people. If we really are concerned for one Minnesota, we need one affordable Minnesota.”