4:52 PM Thursday, January 18, 2024
Golden Valley is leading the charge for affordable housing in the Twin Cities suburbs. Now, funding from the state is helping the city to make that happen.
“Housing should be seen as a basic human right and we have an obligation in humanity to provide that,” said Alma Flores, community development director in Golden Valley.
Flores said the city’s Home Ownership Program for Equity, or HOPE, is making that option more affordable for some families.
“We only have, at this time, under 8 percent that we could say is affordable to people who earn that area median income,” Flores said.
To boost the affordability numbers in Golden Valley, 11 city-owned land plots are being used to build single-family homes.
City-owned plots throughout Golden Valley will be used to develop a number of single-family homes.
Those homes include single-family houses, duplexes and rowhomes. Flores said four sites were funded through round one. Habitat for Humanity already began constructing one on Douglas Drive.
The additional seven still sought funding until recently.
State Funding
Golden Valley was one of the projects selected for the state’s $348 million. A release from the state said the funding will create and preserve 4,720 homes across the state.
“This proposal really provides a range of housing options to meet the needs of different residents,” said Kayla Schuchman, assistant commissioner for single family housing at Minnesota Housing.
Her department allocated $3.5 million in grants and loans to the city of Golden Valley. That money, along with $945,000 from the Metropolitan Council, will help fund a number of the affordable rowhomes and duplexes.
“This year, we were able to really go big in what we selected through the process,” Schuchman said. “We awarded multiple times of what we would award in a given year.”
She said Minnesota has one of the largest homeownership gaps in the country.
“Homeownership of white households in the state of Minnesota far outpaces the rate of homeownership in our households of color,” Schuchman said.
That gap was about a 50 percent difference in 2022.
This is a first step toward a more equal market in Golden Valley as plots of land become places to stay.
“This will serve residents, you know, up front when the houses are built, and overtime as the units turn over,” Schuchman said.
