St. Paul—Today, the Senate passed its $115 million housing budget bill, authored by Senator Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake). House File 4focuses on ending the governor’s eviction moratorium, improving housing affordability and closing the homeownership gap. The bill passed with a unanimous vote of 66-0 and will go to Governor Walz for final signature.  

“Ending the Governor’s Emergency Powers and the Eviction Moratorium has been the top priority for the Senate, and this bill is the key piece of our agenda to recover from the COVID pandemic,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R- East Gull Lake) said. “This balanced approach includes support for housing providers and connects those who need financial help with resources available. It was absolutely unfair and wrong for the Governor to expect housing providers to bear this financial burden for so long and I’m glad we’re finally making them whole.”   

This bipartisan legislation includes an off-ramp to the current eviction moratorium 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. The off-ramp will be taken in stages starting the day the bill is signed into law going and ending after 105 days. Individuals eligible for rental assistance who have pending applications cannot be evicted while assistance is still pending.  

“As a state we need to be doing everything we can to lay a path to affordable home ownership for every Minnesotan,” Draheim said. “Owning your own home has been proven to lead to more wealth, kids doing better in school, better mental and physical health, and more community involvement.  These are all things we strive for and home ownership is the foundation to meet these goals.” 

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

• Provides $100 million in Housing Infrastructure bonds and designates $18.33 million of it for single-family homes and $15 million for manufactured home park acquisition, improvement, and infrastructure.  
• Allows federally recognized American Indian tribes in Minnesota and tribal housing corporations to eligible for housing grants in a natural disaster area. 
• Allocates $3.25 million over the biennium to the Workforce Homeownership Program for the development of workforce and affordable homeownership projects across Minnesota. 
• Increases the income limitation under the definition of “persons and families of low and moderate income” to 115% of the greater of state median income, or area or county median income. 
• Requires leases to have prorated rent when a lease ends before the day of the month.  
• Continues to fund the Home Ownership Education, Counseling, & Training (HECAT) Program which helps to prioritize decreasing the homeownership gap between white households and households of color. 

For additional Housing and Eviction Moratorium information, please go to: https://www.renthelpmn.org/