Frey addresses affordable housing, community safety and more in State of the City Address

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey delivered his annual State of the City Address on Tuesday morning, covering the city’s accomplishments, initiatives and plans for the future.

During the address, he highlighted the city’s affordable housing production, downtown revitalization efforts, community safety, police reform and a forecast of the 2025 budgeting process.

“By the numbers, the acceleration of our recovery and the pace of change continues. We are leading the nation in the rate of visitor return to downtown with activity up by 45% in the past year,” Frey said. “Achieving that possibility and realizing potential during a time of great transition is hard. And realizing potential is not always a comfortable process, but we must lean into that discomfort all the same. So, the state of our city is brimming with possibility and leaning into change.”

Frey stated that in the past six years, $363 million has been invested into affordable rental housing and homeownership programs. Between 2018 and 2024, the city has created 4,679 affordable housing units, which is more than double the average between 2011 and 2017.

Another focus was on bringing the Southside Community Safety Center to fruition by next year, with Toddrick Barnette leading a team to complete the project. The city is also continuing work on police reform through a settlement agreement with the state and an eventual federal consent decree.

Frey also highlighted the Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs created last year, which is working to transform vacant storefronts into more eye-catching destinations throughout the city.

In addition, he touted the recruitment efforts of city leaders to attract new hires and increase employee diversity. The city stated that compared to last year, applications to the City of Minneapolis have increased by 101%. In the first quarter of 2024, Hispanic/Latino hires were up 56%, Native American hires increased 55%, Asian hires were up 15% and Black/African American hires increased 8%, according to the city.

When discussing the future, Frey noted that going into this year’s budgeting process, the city is starting at a projected levy increase of 6.1% and anything added to the budget will increase the levy.

“Here’s the reality: budgeting will look different this year. This is not the year to add new, shiny programs. It’s the year to effectively carry out the ones we have,” stated Frey.

He closed the address by saying, “Our city is brimming with possibility… and we all make up that team to ensure it’s realized.”

Click here to watch Frey’s full 2024 State of the City Address.