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MN legislators aim to address ‘missing middle’ housing

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According to Housing First Minnesota, metro homebuilders are starting spring strong with single-family permits increasing 37% over last year in March.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — New data suggests efforts to build up Minnesota’s housing inventory are succeeding, but there’s more to the story. 

According to Housing First Minnesota, metro homebuilders are starting spring strong. 405 permits were pulled for single-family homes in March — a 37% increase compared to the same time last year. 

“We continue to see strong permit numbers through the year. I think some of the sharp increases… is due also to the fact that we had a very slow year, last year. So we’re very much on pace with more of a 2019, 2018, more of a regular pace compared to kind of the frenzy we had following 2020,” explained Katie Elfstrom, vice president of marketing and communications for Housing First Minnesota. 

Elfstrom said they saw lower numbers in 2023 because, “Interest rates went up the fastest they’ve ever gone up. I think homebuyers really… were on pause. They really were unsure of if they were able to find a home, if they could get into a home.”

Housing First Minnesota represents more than 900 builders, remodelers, developers and industry supplies across the state. 

“I know we are short over 100,000 homes in this market… and I think that the strong permit activity we’re seeing is builders responding to that and really seeing a need in this market,” Elfstrom said. 

According to Elfstrom, builders are now focusing more on move-in ready homes. 

“More people want to move directly into that home. They don’t want to wait for the home to be built. They want to know my interest rate is this,” she said. 

The Keystone Report looks at building permit data provided by participating cities. For example, Minneapolis is included but St. Paul is not. 

Woodbury had the highest numbers for permits in March and year-to-date. For March permits, the top three cities were Woodbury (40), Lakeville (33) and Maple Grove (28). 

Despite strong numbers for single-family homes, multifamily construction permits were pulled for just six units in March — a 168% decrease compared to the same time last year. 

“While homebuilding continues at a strong pace, affordability and supply challenges remain in our housing market,” said James Vagle, CEO of Housing First Minnesota, in a press release. “These issues must be addressed by the legislature this session.”

“We have a massive housing shortage and that’s leading to higher prices, shortage of demand — especially for things like starter homes or seniors wanting to downsize —  and rents that continue to escalate,” said Rep. Michael Howard (DLF-Richfield). 

Rep. Howard, chair of the Housing Finance and Policy Committee, was joined by a bipartisan group of legislators and housing advocates back in February to announce the Minnesotans for More Homes Initiative (HF 4009/SF 3964)

The legislation aims to fix the state’s “missing middle” housing supply which includes everything from duplexes to courtyard apartments. 

“If you could boil our housing challenge down to one problem, it’s that we simply do not have enough homes. So the Minnesotans for More Homes agenda is a mix of policies that will help unlock the production of the homes, especially the kinds of homes that Minnesotans desperately want but right now can’t find,” Rep. Howard said. 

The legislation, among other things, would allow for multifamily housing by-right in commercially zoned districts. 

“A lot of communities are going this direction and we see more development that’s that mixed-use housing that includes some commercial and some housing,” Howard said. “But there can be local barriers that make it hard to build those kinds of homes and there can be a lengthy process that ends up shelving a lot of that development, especially affordable housing development.” 

It has received some pushback, including from the League of Minnesota Cities, Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, Metro Cities, Minnesota Association of Small Cities, and the Municipal Legislative Commission. 

In a letter, dated Feb. 20, 2024, from the organizations, it said, “Zoning is hyper local as is each community’s locally identified housing needs, public infrastructure capacity to accommodate new density, and advancing other individual community goals including historic preservation and protection of natural resources. While housing is a statewide issue, addressing housing affordability and availability must continue to be locally driven to account for these nuances.”

Howard said they have worked closely with cities, saying, “We want to make sure that we’re allowing for new housing that’s desperately needed to come in, but also in a way that’s going to work well for the community that exists. So we have things like height limits and that would sort of prevent a very large multifamily development from showing up right next to a neighborhood. But we also have, within that, sort of rules of play that will reduce some of those barriers so that we can build housing that makes sense.”

The Minnesotans for More Homes Initiative has two bills. One deals exclusively with building multifamily housing in commercial districts. Howard said both bills have at least one more committee stop before they could get to the floor for a vote. 

Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries



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Pohlads announce intent to explore Twins sale

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A statement released Thursday said the longtime owners made the decision to examine a possible sale of the franchise after “months of thoughtful consideration.”

MINNEAPOLIS — After four decades of ownership, the Pohlad family announced they are exploring the possibility of selling the Minnesota Twins. 

Executive Chair Joe Pohlad released a statement Thursday indicating the family’s intent to pursue selling the franchise comes “after months of thoughtful consideration” and will proceed in the process with both “care and intention.” 

“For the past 40 seasons, the Minnesota Twins have been part of our family’s heart and soul. This team is woven into the fabric of our lives, and the Twins community has become an extension of our family,” reads the statement from Joe Pohlad. ““However, after months of thoughtful consideration, our family reached a decision this summer to explore selling the Twins. As we enter the next phase of this process, the time is right to make this decision public.”

Pohlad went on to say the intention is to find an ownership group of which fans and the state of Minnesota can be proud of, that will take care of the storied franchise. 

The Twins have won two World Series titles – in 1987 and 1991 -since Carl Pohlad purchased the club from original owner Calvin Griffith in 1984. But critics and fans have often criticized the Pohlad family for perceived tight purse strings, and their unwillingness to spend and make the team competitive. 

Those calls became louder when Joe Pohlad announced ownership would be cutting a reported $30 million from the Twins’ $160 million payroll for 2024, following the most successful season in recent memory. Minnesota did not compete to resign starting pitcher Sonny Gray, a mainstay of the 2023 rotation that saw the Twins win one playoff series and nearly claim a second that would have put them in the AL Division Championship Series. 

Joe Pohlad blamed the payroll reduction on uncertainty surrounding the Twins’ television broadcast contract in 2024. This week, it was announced that Twins television broadcasts would be taken over by MLB in 2025.



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Hmong American leaders share support for Walz in Minnesota

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Hmong American lawmakers and activists say Walz has built a mostly positive reputation among the community.

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — As co-founder and executive director of the Hmong American Farmers Association in Minnesota, Janssen Hang has met Gov. Tim Walz several times. It’s usually been on farmland with Walz in his trademark red flannel shirt.

“I’ve seen that red flannel multiple times.” Hang said, laughing. “I think he will be a wonderful candidate because he speaks from the heart… He’s not a third-generation senator’s son or some big business guy.”

Hmong Minnesotans were among those who watched as Walz was catapulted onto the Democratic presidential ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris two months ago. They have watched him crisscross the country and last week, debate Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Hmong American state lawmakers and community activists say Walz has built a mostly positive reputation with Minnesota’s largest Asian ethnic group. They point to past legislation, a willingness to reach across the aisle and attendance at community events from festivals to funerals. 

Now, a lot of these supporters want to show how much influence the Hmong American population has by getting out the vote with fellow Hmong in battleground states.

Walz has his fair share of Hmong detractors who say he’s done little to protect small businesses, especially in the aftermath of demonstrations and civil unrest where George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. Still, with Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders being one of the nation’s fastest-growing voting blocs, Walz’s relationship with eligible Hmong voters could potentially send ripples in swing states like Wisconsin and Michigan. And there is definitely more excitement in the local community with Walz in the mix.

“The next vice president is potentially someone who actually knows Hmong and can actually pronounce Hmong correctly,” said KaYing Yang, who serves on President Joe Biden’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans. “Even though we are spread throughout the United States, our community is still very tightly knit.”

By state, census data shows California has the most Hmong people with over 107,000. But Minnesota and Wisconsin have seen considerable growth with populations of over 97,000 and over 58,000, respectively. North Carolina and Michigan round out the top five.

Hmong roots in the U.S. date back to the 1970s. Historically, Hmong people were a persecuted minority in China so many fled to Southeast Asia. 

During the Vietnam War, the CIA recruited Lao and Hmong people for “Special Guerrilla Units” to fight the spread of communism in a “secret war” in Laos. Thousands died. Others fled and settled as refugees in Minnesota, Wisconsin and central California. Today, census data indicates there are more than 300,000 Hmong in the U.S.

In Minnesota, the impact of the Hmong population hasn’t gone unnoticed by Walz and other officials. Hmong farmers contribute more than 50% of produce across 50 farmers markets in the metropolitan Twin Cities. 

In 2022, these farmers reached a “truly historical moment” when they received $2 million from the state to purchase the farmland they had been leasing, Hang recalled. Walz was “instrumental” in encouraging and working with legislators to ensure the funds were wrapped into a bi-partisan state infrastructure bonding bill.

Walz and others have also gone out of their way to recognize Hmong war veterans. State Rep. Fue Lee, one of Minnesota’s nine Hmong state lawmakers who are all Democrats, worked with Walz in 2019 to get a bill proclaiming May 14 as Hmong SGU Remembrance Day. The date coincides with when U.S. forces withdrew from Laos in 1975, making Hmong and Lao guerrilla unit soldiers refugees.

“The governor takes his time to know you personally,” Lee says. “That’s the impact that he has with a lot of the Hmong community members that I have spoken with about his candidacy.”

May Lor Xiong, a Minnesota Republican running for Congress in a Democratic district, doubts Walz will have much influence on Hmong people in other states. She says Walz comes up short helping small businesses. 

She also criticizes what she viewed as a lack of leadership during the pandemic shutdown and protests over Floyd’s death. Homelessness and public safety are also issues she says Walz has done little to address.

“It’s just all about, you know, photo ops and that’s all it is,” Xiong said of Walz.

The Harris-Walz campaign has invested in reaching the Hmong community, along with other Asian populations, with more staffing, media and in-language materials.

“Vice President Harris and Governor Walz have fought for the issues that matter to Asian American communities — from investing in the middle class and small businesses to keeping communities safe and safeguarding our freedoms,” Andrew Peng, the campaign spokesperson for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander voter engagement, said in a statement.

Trump-Vance campaign officials say Asian Americans achieved success during Trump’s first term.

“There has been no bigger advocate for the AAPI community than President Trump, as he created an environment where diversity, equal opportunity and prosperity were afforded to everybody,” Steven Cheung, a campaign senior advisor, said in a statement.

Collectivist in nature, Hmong culture follows an 18-clan structure. Hmong Walz-Harris supporters are hoping to leverage connections with clan leaders into votes from older generations. Some clan leaders will be speaking to Hmong volunteers at a Harris campaign phone banking event later this month, said Gaochi Vang, a co-chair Hmong Americans for Harris based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Data shows a huge wealth gap between Hmong and other Asian American subgroups, so one of the biggest obstacles is getting through to potential voters who are feeling defeated or not cared for, Vang said. However, she thinks Walz’s history with the Hmong community could factor in. But, the message has to come from the right person.

“It’s important for our elders to hear from someone that they see is also a respected leader in their community or like another elder in their community,” Vang said. “I think that is what will empower our Hmong people, is to be reminded that their voice is really powerful because we can literally be that fraction of voters that tips Wisconsin one way or the other.”

Xiong, the Republican, thinks more Hmong voters actually are conservative-leaning on issues like reproductive rights and gender-affirming care.

“They don’t want to come out and say that to people because they’re just scared that their view might be frowned upon,” Xiong says. “I see a lot of people coming over to me and saying, ’We vote Republican. We see what’s happening in our state … and things (haven’t) changed.”

Democratic state Rep. Kaohly Vang Her says in the Hmong American community, most people don’t identify strongly with a party line.

“We have to actually work really hard to earn the Hmong vote every single time,” Her said. “The Hmong community wants to know you’re not being performative. You do know our issues, you are going to show up and you are going to fight for us.”



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Fire torches 3 buildings, forces Minneapolis residents to leave

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Fire officials say the flames started in a garage but then jumped to an apartment building and hotel.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Fire Department (MFD) evacuated residents after a four-alarm fire sparked on the city’s south side late Wednesday night. 

The fire chief told KARE 11 that the fire started in a garage unit on the 5600 block of Lyndale Ave. S and quickly jumped to a motel and apartment complex nearby. All three will be declared a total loss. 

The Red Cross was called to help a reported 50 displaced tenants find a place to stay. Two firefighters and one resident were medically evaluated for injuries. 

Fire crews used an aerial ladder water tower to dump large amounts of water on the apartment building in an effort to knock down the flames. 

KARE 11 will update this story as more information is available. 



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