LETTER: Please support 'Homes for All'

To the Editor:

Thanks to reporter Maureen McCullen for spotlighting Minnesota's urgent need for affordable housing in her piece "Bills aim to ease Greater Minnesota housing, homelessness struggles" published at www.inforum.com .

As director of Cloquet's Housing and Redevelopment Authority, I work hard to address Carlton County's affordable housing need each day - but my colleagues and I face steep challenges. Federal funds are diminishing and state funds are stretched tight. That's why I urge Minnesotans to support the Homes for All legislative ask, highlighted in McCullen's piece, and the local housing trust funds bill (H.F. 1607 / S.F. 1389), which provides cities, towns, or counties with a flexible, local tool for housing development. These measures ensure that communities - large and small - have the resources and local tools needed for affordable housing development.

This past fall, the Cloquet HRA was one of a lucky few to receive Minnesota Housing funding to construct White Pine Apartments, which will provide affordable housing for 35 Cloquet households. While this is an important success for our community, so many needed projects across the state went unfunded. Of the 71 applications submitted, only 12 projects received funding. The Homes for All request would allow more communities to access funding for key housing projects in their communities by providing an additional $30 million for investment in housing and $100 million in bonds to make projects like White Pine Apartments possible. The local housing trust funds bill provides communities a locally-controlled tool to pool public and private dollars - and leverage more - to accomplish projects with maximum benefit to the local community.

Reach out to your legislators to voice your support for the Homes for All agenda and the local housing trust funds bill (H.F. 1607 / S.F. 1389). The need for more affordable housing is clear, and I am confident that - with the right tools - our communities can address it.

Debra A. Shaff

Executive Director

Cloquet Housing and Redevelopment Authority