St. Paul—On Tuesday, the Senate passed the $115 million Housing Budget Bill focused on a more affordable path to home ownership, chief authored by Senator Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake), Chair of the Housing Policy and Finance Committee. Senate File 969 focuses on housing affordability and closing the homeownership gap.

“It’s critical that we support the path to affordable home ownership for every Minnesotan,” said Senator Zach Duckworth (R-Lakeville), Vice Chair of the Housing Policy and Finance Committee. “Owning your own home is a large part of the American Dream and positively impacts our kids, families, communities, local economy, and state.  This bill does a lot of good for folks all across Minnesota.”

This legislation also includes an eviction moratorium phase out passed earlier in the session. An eviction moratorium was originally established by Governor Walz through Executive Order 20-14, which became effective on March 24, 2020. This important change would restore property rights for owners while leaving vital protections in place for those who most need it.

A number of other key provisions are included in the legislation:

• $1.6 million a year to the Workforce Homeownership Program to provide one-time grants of up to $375,000 for the development of workforce and affordable homeownership projects across Minnesota.
• $150,000 per year increase to the Home Ownership Education, Counseling, & Training (HECAT) Program which helps to prioritize decreasing the homeownership gap between white households and households of color.
• Requires the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to consider how quickly a project can be constructed when scoring projects competing for funds.
• Does not allow rent control.