“We are pleased to appear before the committee to discuss one of the most urgent and pressing issues facing our state and that’s our broken housing market.” -David Siegel, Executive Director
Housing was centerstage at the Minnesota Senate on Wednesday as David Siegel, Executive Director, John Rask, 2019 President, and Nick Erickson, Regulatory Affairs Manager, had the opportunity to present the findings of the Housing Affordability Institute’s recently released research.
The Senate Agriculture, Rural Development, and Housing Finance Committee heard and discussed the findings of Priced Out: The True Cost of Minnesota’s Broken Housing Market over the course of the two hour hearing.
“While it is true that our housing market is working well for many Minnesotans, our housing market is broken in several key ways,” said Siegel as he introduced the topic. Siegel went on to state that by nearly every measure new homes in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region cost more than in comparable markets.
Erickson went page-by-page through the report showing that up to 1/3 of a new home’s price is attributable to housing policies and regulations.
“The issue is more than codes and fees. It is land use, zoning requirements, landscape requirements, letters of credit, and more. It’s a cumulative impact,” stated Erickson.
Finally, Rask provided context of the day-to-day operations of developing and building in Minnesota. “At times we have 7 different agencies examining wetlands and stormwater. Often times these agencies do not even agree on approach. By way of comparison, across the border there is 1 agency. And often times we are able to have a better end result.”
Yesterday, legislation was introduced to create a legislative commission on housing affordability in order to have an affordability-centric review of existing housing policies and review new housing policies and regulations.
To watch the full committee hearing click here.
