Not a single state in the country has enough affordable housing to meet the needs of low-income renters, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in Minneapolis on Monday.

Yellen, meeting with politicians and business leaders Monday and Tuesday, announced a new $100 million fund to subsidize financing for affordable housing.

“Here in Minnesota, Black households are six times more likely than white households to be precariously housed,” said Yellen, the former chair of the Federal Reserve.

The new $100 million fund would boost the Federal Financing Bank’s financing of affordable housing and other measures over three years. Yellen also noted the Biden administration support of the construction of affordable rental housing through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.

“This new program will be primarily focused on increasing the supply of affordable housing,” Yellen said. “We look forward to designing it over the coming months to make sure that we are putting these new funds to their most effective use.”

Nationally, there is a shortage of more than 7 million affordable homes for the more than 10.8 million extremely low-income U.S. families, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. And there is no state or county in the country where a renter working full-time at minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment, according to the group.

The announcements came as attention to the housing crunch and shortage of affordable housing becomes a growing issue in this year’s presidential election campaign.

Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said the White House has made efforts to prevent evictions and address the housing crisis, “but there is much more work still to be done.”

Yellen delivered remarks Monday following a tour inside one of the city’s Family Housing Expansion Project, or FHEP, apartment units. The project, which was completed in 2023, is the largest new-unit housing project in 20 years developed by the Minnesota Public Housing Authority and consists of 84 units across 16 apartment buildings citywide.

“Housing is the first thing people need in order to be healthy,” said Sen. Tina Smith, who joined Yellen along with fellow Democrat Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Yellen emphasized the importance of efforts aimed at fueling the development of more affordable housing and credited Minneapolis with serving as an example of “strategically leveraging” federal policies and programs to build needed housing.

“To get more affordable housing, you have to allow for it,” Frey said. “Previously we had a system that was set up that, by and large, kept all of the affordable housing in just a couple of locations throughout Minneapolis.”

Frey pointed to the city’s push for the long-fought 2040 Plan, which included a provision to boost inclusionary zoning and allow for the construction of multifamily housing.

On Tuesday, Yellen is set to hold a roundtable with Sen. Amy Klobuchar and small business owners about Community Development Financial Institutions.

The supply crunch of both affordable rentals and already owned homes for sale has raised prices.

“This supply crunch has led to an affordability crunch,” she said

Biden’s budget proposal calls on Congress to provide a tax credit for first-time homebuyers and includes a plan to build more than 2 million homes. It would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.

Includes reporting from the Associated Press.

Minneapolis will be the center of the USA Gymnastics universe this week.

The country’s best gymnasts will be competing at Target Center, vying for a spot on Team USA’s men’s and women’s Olympic gymnastics teams.

Among the competitors are St. Paul native Suni Lee, who was one of the stars of the last Olympic games, and Shane Wiskus of Spring Lake.

The two are competing in competitive men’s and women’s trials, which will begin on Thursday.

In the days leading up to the competition, athletes will be training on the floor and perfecting their routines.

The men and women both compete in several events. Both men and women compete in the floor exercise and the vault.

Women also compete on the uneven bars and the balance beam, while men compete on the pommel horse, the high bar, parallel bars and the rings.

Each of these events are judged on two things: execution and difficulty.

“Every event is a little bit different in what they’re looking for. But really, there’s two scores,” said Jenny Hansen, the head coach of the University of Minnesota Women’s Gymnastics team. “One is their difficulty, you know, how difficult are the elements in their routines and then they have an execution score. So that’s how well they do them, how good is their form and their artistry and the level in which they perform the elements.”

While the routines are judged for scores, there are other elements that the Olympic coaches will be watching for, including who their best and most consistent athletes are and who can help round out their team.

The highest scoring all-around score will automatically qualify. The men and women

each have guidelines of how the teams are picked. For women, the top scorer in the all-around qualifies automatically.

Then the others are picked based on this competition and recent competitions. Coaches will try to pick one or two more athletes who are strong on the all-around to be able to compete.

“And then from there, if you get to these amazing all-rounders, it’s really just finding strength on the other events,” Hansen said. “Because they don’t need everybody to compete (in) every event. They don’t put up five athletes in each event. So then they’re just kind of looking to round out who are the strongest in the other events.”

The men have a similar process, with the top all-around scorer (if he’s in the top three of the events), with coaches picking out the rest of the team based on strengths and performances in this and recent competitions.

Tickets are

available online at AXS.com

.

• Thursday: 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. — Men’s Day 1 
• Friday: 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. — Women’s Day 1 
• Saturday: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. — Men’s Day 2
• Sunday: 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. — Women’s Day 2

You can watch online or on television on USA, NBC and Peacock.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced Monday that it’s partnering with Shopify to offer a selection of its popular merchants and their products on Target Plus.

Target Plus is the Minneapolis-based retailer’s invite-only, third-party online marketplace

The new partnership with Shopify will expand Target Plus through an assortment of brands like True Classic, Caden Lane, and more, according to the company.

Certain Shopify merchants will be featured both online and in Target stores nationwide.

“It’s table stakes for merchants to be everywhere customers are, and as the world’s leading retail operating system, we make it easier and more accessible for brands to sell directly to their customers on the best channels,” said Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify, in a statement.

“Partnering with Target helps high-growth brands like Caden Lane and True Classic reach millions of new loyal customers and take their business to the next level.”

Shopify merchants can apply to sell online on Target Plus through Marketplace Connect.