The article discusses the ongoing debate in the Minnesota Legislature regarding the "Yes to Homes" package, a bipartisan set of housing measures designed to address the state's housing shortage. The shortage is driving up rents and making homeownership difficult.
The proposed reforms aim to increase housing density by:
Rep. Michael Howard highlights the urgent need for action, emphasizing that the current rate of home construction isn't sufficient to meet the demand.
Significant opposition to the bill stems from city officials who view the measures as an overreach, infringing upon local control over development decisions.
Daniel Lightfoot, representing the League of Minnesota Cities, argues that the legislation unduly limits local authority, imposing a statewide framework on residential development.
Although the bills passed easily through the housing committees, further hurdles are anticipated as they proceed to local government-focused committees, where many legislators have prior experience as city officials. Senator Lindsey Port acknowledges the increased challenge ahead.
Everybody at the Capitol seems to agree that Minnesota has a housing shortage, which is driving up rents and making it harder to buy homes.
There’s less consensus on how to fix it.
Legislators are debating reforms as part of the “Yes to Homes” package, a bipartisan-backed set of housing measures that would, among other things, require cities to permit more types of housing in more places. The changes include more zones mixing residential and commercial, and allowing more accessory dwellings, townhomes and duplexes across the state.
“The status quo isn’t working. We currently are not building enough homes that Minnesotans can afford,” Rep. Michael Howard, DFL-Richfield, told the House Housing Committee, which he co-chairs.
But the pushback to the measures, similar to ones that failed last year, continues to be fierce, particularly among city officials who decry them as an attack on local control of development.
“The legislation seeks to broadly limit local decisionmaking authority on residential development and impose this rigid statewide framework, in some cases on all cities, and in other cases on a set of cities, based on population,” said Daniel Lightfoot, the League of Minnesota Cities’ senior intergovernmental relations representative.
While the bills passed easily through the chambers’ housing committees this month, they could face hurdles at their next stops, the local government-focused committees where many of the legislators are former city officials.
“It just is a harder step,” said Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, chair of the Senate Housing Committee and the lead author of one of the bills.
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