Last Thursday, SF 1294 was referred to the Rules Committee in the Senate. With this action, the bill met the required first legislative deadline to pass through committee of at least one legislative chamber by Friday, March 15th.
BATC-Housing First Minnesota executive director David Siegel gave testimony on the bill.
“I’d like to share two important observations that illustrate the depth of the problem facing our state, and how a housing affordability commission creates the best opportunity to address the challenges,” said Siegel “First, there broad agreement across the housing stakeholder spectrum that Minnesota’s housing market is broken and on an unsustainable track. The second area illustrating the need for a commission lies in the siloed, layered, and broad array of regulatory agencies influence housing.”
SF 1294 would establish a legislative commission on housing affordability in order to discuss and address these challenges.
The commission would among other things define housing affordability and study issues relating to housing affordability and the construction, preservation and rehabilitation of owner-occupied and rental housing, including subsidized housing, existing and future government regulations impacting housing affordability, market forces impact housing affordability, and access to homeownership.
The next legislative deadline is Friday, March 29th.
Follow @HousingFirstMN for frequent updates from your Housing First Minnesota advocacy team about the status of SF 1294, it’s House companion, and anything else advocacy related.
