Nine grants aim to address racial equity and geographic choice, according to the Met Council.
The Metropolitan Council is providing a boost to local housing agencies, approving $2 million in Livable Communities grants that will help them expand affordable homeownership opportunities in underserved communities.
Nine grants – part of a new affordable homeownership pilot program – aim to address two priorities: racial equity and geographic choice, according to the Met Council.
The program “allows us to increase the amount of Livable Communities funding that is targeted to homeownership, especially for populations that historically have been discriminated against in the housing market,” said Lisa Barajas, the Met Council’s director of community development. “Owning a home is an important path to building intergenerational wealth.”
The grants include:
$300,000 to the Roseville Economic Development Authority to help the Roseville Community Land Trust build new or acquire four homes for lower-income households in partnership with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity; eligible households must be first-time homebuyers unless a previous home was lost due to foreclosure.
$285,000 to the Washington County Community Development Authority for Scattered Site Acquisition/Rehab 2022 to be used toward acquisition and rehabilitation of three homes for ownership by lower-income households in suburban communities in Washington and Anoka counties; partner is Habitat for Humanity.
$50,000 to Ramsey County for Margaret Street Affordable Homeownership to be used toward the purchase of a Margaret Street house in St. Paul to convey to a nonprofit organization that will sell the property to a homebuyer at or below 80 percent area median income; the county will also provide down-payment assistance to the homebuyer.
Seventy-five cities and a township participated in the Livable Communities program in 2022. The affordable homeownership pilot grants were among more than $25.8 million the Met Council awarded through the Livable Communities program in 2022.
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