Twin Cities miss housing, affordability, and Black ownership goals
The Twin Cities missed three regional housing benchmarks — new construction, affordable units, and Black homeownership — the Minneapolis Fed reported, signaling widening affordability and equity gaps across the metro. FOX 9
The region aims for at least 18,000 new housing units a year but built about 12,000 in both 2024 and 2025, roughly two-thirds of the target. FOX 9 Officials set a goal of 2,090 new affordable units annually but delivered about 1,760, leaving the metro roughly 300 units short. FOX 9 Black homeownership, which had been inching up, fell from 34.3% to just over 29%, moving away from the region's 45% target for 2030. FOX 9
In December 2017, Governor Mark Dayton created the Task Force on Housing to confront a growing affordability crisis. The business-led Itasca Project released a 2020 report calling for 18,000 new units annually to meet demand and close racial wealth gaps. In 2022 the Itasca Project and the Minneapolis Fed launched a Regional Housing Affordability Dashboard that set the three benchmarks now missed.
Experts and analysts point to high land, labor, material and financing costs, 6% mortgage rates, and about $400,000 average sale prices as major barriers to production and to first-generation buyers of color. FOX 9 Minnesota faces a shortage of 98,000 affordable rental homes for extremely low-income renters, with just 37 affordable and available units for every 100 such households statewide in 2026. This is the first time since 2022 the metro has missed all three benchmarks in the same year, the Minneapolis Fed said. FOX 9
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📊 Relevant Data
Minnesota faces a shortage of 98,000 affordable rental homes available to extremely low-income renters, with only 37 affordable and available units for every 100 such households statewide.
2026 MINNESOTA HOUSING PROFILE — National Low Income Housing Coalition
Black residents make up approximately 18.9% of the population in Minneapolis, part of the Twin Cities metro area.
Demographics of Minneapolis — Wikipedia
The HUD reforms announced by Secretary Scott Turner redirect federal Continuum of Care funding from the 'Housing First' model to prioritize transitional housing with supportive services, a change criticized for potentially reducing permanent housing options and challenged in federal courts.
Judge rules that HUD effort to change criteria for homeless funding is unlawful — Los Angeles Times
📌 Key Facts
- Twin Cities goal is at least 18,000 new housing units per year; only about 12,000 were built in both 2024 and 2025 (roughly two‑thirds of the target).
- Target for new affordable units is 2,090 annually, but the most recent total was about 1,760, leaving the region roughly 300 units short.
- Black homeownership, which had been inching up, fell from 34.3% to just over 29%, moving away from the region’s 45% by 2030 target.
- Experts cite high land, labor, materials and financing costs plus 6% mortgage rates and ~$400,000 average sale prices as key barriers to production and to first‑generation buyers of color.
- This is the first time since 2022 that the metro has missed all three benchmarks in the same year, according to the Minneapolis Fed.
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