Since 2018, the City of Minneapolis has invested more than $400 million in affordable housing and homelessness prevention. Mayor Jacob Frey, city leaders and others marked the milestone by releasing “The Way Home Progress Report” for 2022 - 2024. The report solidifies the City’s commitment to producing and preserving affordable housing, closing homeownership gaps and confronting homelessness with urgency and compassion.
“Behind every unit preserved or built is a family, a child, a neighbor whose life just got more stable” said Mayor Jacob Frey. “As this progress report shows, we’ve made real strides in producing and preserving affordable housing, expanding homeownership, and reducing homelessness. Affordable housing is about giving people the foundation to succeed, and we’re going to keep pushing until everyone in Minneapolis has that chance.”
The Way Home Progress Report outlines core values and strategies to meet the needs of Minneapolis residents. This work is a collaborative effort between the City, Hennepin County, state and local non-profit and community organizations.
“It really does take a village, as the saying goes, to help our neighbors find their way home,” said Erik Hansen, director of the City’s Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED). “We’re grateful to our partners who allow our residents to stay in the home they love or find a new one. Housing is a basic human right, and we’re proud of our commitment affordable housing in our City.”
By the numbers
In 2024 alone, the strategies that help provide safe, dignified, and affordable housing for residents produced these highlights:
- Strategy 1: Increase housing supply, diversity, and affordable in all neighborhoods
- The City created the New Nicollet Redevelopment, which identified redevelopment ideas for the old Kmart on Lake Street that include home rental and ownership opportunities.
- Strategy 2: Produce more affordable rental housing and preserve subsidized affordable rental housing for 30 years or more
- 22 projects with 1,745 affordable units will have been funded and closed in 2025.
- 234 of these will be designated for residents experiencing homelessness.
- Strategy 3: Preserve unsubsidized naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH)
- Between NOAH, the 4d incentive program and the small and medium multifamily loan program, the City has preserved 5,208 affordable rental housing units since 2018.
“Affordable housing is a complex ecosystem dependent on the vital participation of everyone involved at every level to operate with a common goal and mission to provide access to more stable and affordable housing in our communities,” said James Crumble, with 1st Class Residential properties, who has received assistance with through NOAH funding.
- Strategy 4: Improve and sustain access to homeownership, especially among residents with lower incomes and people of color
- Between 2022 and 2024, the City has served more than 3,000 households through financial wellness and downpayment assistance.
- Strategy 5: Support renters
- As a majority renter city, the City helped more than 6,100 households and 12,450 renters with legal advice on housing discrimination, security deposit disputes and eviction rights.
- Strategy 6: Prevent and end homelessness
- The past three years have seen measurable progress like a 33% decrease in unsheltered homelessness and a 30% reduction in families experiencing homelessness compared to the year before.
- The City awarded $18.5 million through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) to create or preserve 803 affordable rental units.
- Strategy 7: Maximize potential of publicly owned land to meet City housing goals
- 19 properties have been sold – for new construction or rehabilitation
- 48 properties have been leased as community gardens
For more examples of CPED’s work in housing, planning and economic development, see the departments 2024 Impact Report.
Watch: Oct. 7 news conference