Met Council receives $4 million in federal grants for affordable housing

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Thursday announced new grant funding for the Pathways to Removing Obstacles (PRO) to Housing program.

The Metropolitan Council received a check for $4 million at the news conference.

The funding aims to help identify and remove barriers to affordable housing and lower housing costs.

HUD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Richard Monocchio said that local municipalities will be able to make decisions on how to spend the money. He added that there was $85 million in grants awarded to 21 localities. There will be another round of grants later this year to award $100 million.

“This is a bold start to what we think is going to be a transformational housing budget in the coming year, and other grant programs that are coming down the pipe,” he said.

Ramsey County Commissioner for District 6 Mai Chong Xiong spoke of the impact of the grant, saying the county is currently short around 15,000 affordable housing units. She also noted that the county has a lot of aging infrastructure.

Hennepin County spokesperson Carolyn Marinan said the grant will help residents have more choices about where they want to live, regardless of their level of income.

Elizabeth Showalter, the community development specialist for the city of Blaine, shared that Anoka County recently conducted a study that found a demand for 1,200 additional rental units in the city by the end of 2030. 500 of those units need to be affordable or subsidized, she said. In Anoka County overall, over 1,900 affordable or subsidized units are needed to meet the 2030 demand.