In This Issue:
- Policy Committees Begin Soon!
- 2025 Local Affordable Housing Aid Released
- Livable Communities Program Updates
- Transportation Economic Development Funding Available
Policy Committees Begin Soon!
Metro Cities 2025 policy committee process will begin soon, in late July. Participation is open to member city elected officials and staff. Committee descriptions and dates are on the website. Please be sure to sign up for the committee(s) you wish to attend. This will help us keep rosters accurate. We look forward to seeing you soon!
2025 Local Affordable Housing Aid Released
This week, the Department of Revenue posted distribution amounts for 2025 Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA) on their website. You can view distribution amounts by city, HERE. This program is funded through a 0.25% metropolitan area sales tax, and funds go to counties, cities, and a state rental assistance program. Cities over 10,000 in population are eligible recipients of 25% of the total funds collected. The funds are distributed based on the number of households in the city that are cost-burdened, divided by the total cost-burdened households within the eligible cities. A cost-burdened household is one in which the gross rent is 30 percent or more of the household income, or in which homeownership costs are 30 percent or more of household income. Local Affordable Housing Aid is paid in two equal installments in the year the aid is calculated, on July 20th and December 26th. Funds must be spent by December 31 of the fourth year after the aid was received. You can learn more about the program and qualifying projects on the Department of Revenue website HERE.
Contact Ania McDonnell at [email protected] with any questions.
Livable Communities Program Updates
This week, the Metropolitan Councils Community Development Committee heard a presentation from Council staff on updates and changes to the Livable Communities Act Programs that are intended to align with Imagine 2050 goals and to reflect stakeholder feedback. Final updates will be presented to the full Council in September.
Proposed updates include expansions of eligible projects to include small area development plans that align with regional goals, simplification of the structure to enable development projects to submit one application for all activities which they are seeking funding (going from 9 entry points to one), streamlining scoring to make it more transparent and to ensure a variety of project types are competitive, and enabling smaller and more suburban applications to be more competitive through an updated scoring rubric. Council staff plan to integrate more monitoring and evaluation of the program, including a new grants management system to support that work. Council staff proposed switching to a 2-year fund distribution plan to allow more time to review how changes are being implemented.
These changes will continue to be developed and will be finalized in September. Metro Cities will continue to monitor this process to ensure changes are responsive to city needs.
Contact Ania McDonnell with any questions at [email protected].
Transportation Economic Development Funding Available
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has made $20 million available statewide for their Transportation Economic Development (TED) program. The TED program is a competitive grant program designed to help generate economic benefits through investment in transportation infrastructure on the state’s highway system.
For a project to be eligible, it must contribute to job creation or retention or another measurable economic benefit. Cities, counties, Tribal nations, and other government entities are eligible to apply. The TED Program will provide funding for up to 70 percent of the total transportation infrastructure cost of the project or the state’s maximum allowable share as determined by MnDOT’s cost participation policy or MN State Statute 174.12 Subd. 7, whichever is less.
You can learn more about this program, and the process to apply through MnDOT’s 2025 TED solicitation website. There you can also find details about a virtual information session available on Thursday, July 10. Letters of interest are due on July 28 and Applications are due September 29.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.