Minnesota
Bipartisan group of Minnesota lawmakers announces affordable housing package
For many Minnesota families, housing costs eat up more of their budget than anything else. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers say they have a blueprint to fix that.
On Wednesday, the coalition — which includes conservatives and progressives from the Twin Cities metro and Greater Minnesota — announced a package of bills to tackle what they call a crisis. The state is more than 114,000 affordable homes short of the need, according to the Minnesota Housing Partnership.
Half of all renters are considered “cost-burdened,” meaning they spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent, which represents more people than at any other time in the last decade, the group’s latest report said.
“We hear it all the time: Housing costs too damn much,” said Rep. Mike Howard, DFL-Richfield.
The bills have yet to be published, but the legislators said the proposals will cut down on red tape in order to build more starter home options — like townhomes and duplexes — and ensure they’re approved by cities in a timely manner by streamlining that process.
Another plan would require local governments to allow more options in commercial areas. Notably, Minneapolis recently loosened its rules so vacant office space could be converted into apartments.
Others focus on lifting parking directives and removing aesthetic requirements — the mandated use of premium products as the minimum construction standard — that supporters say are barriers to development.
“As I have said in the past, housing is a North Star issue. Every person needs to find their way home — like my kid in the Navy always told me, I know I can go home to our North Star in Waconia,” said Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia. “There are so many people that don’t have that opportunity right now, so Republicans and Democrats and progressives and liberals are all saying, ‘Let’s fix this.’”
Last year, legislation aimed at the same goal failed to get enough support to pass. This group says these bills are different and answer concerns from cities. The proposed changes do not force development where core government services cannot support that expansion, for example.
“That’s one thing that we heard loud and clear from cities is that we want to have more choice and to apply these reforms in the way that makes sense for our communities. And these bills reflect that,” Howard said.
Minnesotans need to make nearly $100,000 a year to afford a median-priced home, the Minnesota Housing Partnership detailed in its report. Meanwhile wage growth has not kept pace with the increase in rent and the price of a home.
The proposals are only policy changes, meaning they don’t impact the state budget, which will face some constraints this year as lawmakers try to spend wisely to avoid a $5 billion deficit in future years.
The latest economic forecast data — about the state’s budget outlook — comes out on Thursday.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings have submitted a bid to host the 2028 NFL Draft, multiple city and team stakeholders confirmed Wednesday. The team is working in conjunction with Minnesota Sports and Events, the regional sports commission that helped secure Super Bowl LII after the 2017 season.
“Minnesota is in contention,” Matt Meunier, the bid director for Minnesota Sports and Events, said. “We’re in the game. We’re actively pursuing the right to bring a future NFL draft to our community.”
Traditionally, the NFL awards future host cities during one of the league’s annual spring or summer ownership meetings. The owners are scheduled to meet on March 29 in Phoenix and on May 19 in Orlando, Fla.
The Vikings began their pursuit in 2019. Team executives have attended previous drafts. They have also visited the league office to reiterate their interest.
“We have basically been staying in their face for multiple years,” said Lester Bagley, the Vikings’ executive vice president of public affairs.
Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf has wanted to bring the event to Minnesota for years. Last fall, speaking at the team’s practice facility in Eagan, Minn., he said that the subject remained a focus. In conversations with the NFL, league executives mentioned U.S. Bank Stadium as an intriguing location. Minnesota Sports and Events proposed multiple options, but many of them centered around U.S. Bank Stadium.
Experience helps in this regard, too. The Vikings and Minnesota Sports and Events collaborated on the winning bid for the Super Bowl in early 2018. Bagley and Wendy Blackshaw, the president and CEO of Minnesota Sports and Events, said the league came away pleased with the result.
The Vikings plan to commit financial and staff support to help with the bid. The team and Minnesota Sports and Events have also obtained resources from executives from three local companies: Christophe Beck of Ecolab, Gunjan Kedia of U.S. Bank and Geoff Martha of Medtronic.
Blackshaw wouldn’t divulge the specifics on the investments, but she did suggest that Minnesota Sports and Events estimates an economic impact of more than $100 million.
“There is a significant interest in this event,” Blackshaw said, “especially an event of this scale. It would be amazing.”
Typically, host cities must submit bids for multiple years before they are selected by the NFL. Pittsburgh will host the 2026 NFL Draft in less than a month, and Washington, D.C., is scheduled to host the 2027 NFL Draft.
Last year, The Buffalo News reported that the Bills were throwing their hats in the ring for 2028 to coincide with the opening of the new Highmark Stadium.
“Certainly, if 2028 doesn’t work out, we’d need to pivot to a future year,” Meunier said.
Both the team and Minnesota Sports and Events said Wednesday that they intend to pursue the event annually until it is held in Minnesota.
A Twin Cities mom got a big scare this weekend when her 8-year-old son wandered far away from home.
Sarah Curfman’s son, Felix, who has Down syndrome, was playing with his bigger sister Sunday morning, when his mom said he suddenly went missing from his Shakopee, Minnesota, home.
“The panic was very real,” said Curfman.
After Curfman and her husband shouted Felix’s name with no luck, the Scott County Sheriff’s Office was called.
“Luckily the sheriff’s department had way better tools than the two of us to try and find him,” said Curfman.
The sheriff’s office took the search to the air with the help of a heat-detecting drone. Roughly 40 minutes later, Felix was found walking on a frozen creek bed.
“If he had gotten kind of farther up, there was much more open water,” said Curfman.
Thankfully, Felix was fine, returning home after his half-mile trek with just a wet sock and shoe.
The Scott County Sheriff’s Office has been using drones for six years, thanks to donations from local banks and rotary clubs, said Scott County Sheriff Luke Hennen.
The technology was key in significantly cutting down on search time, he said.
“I think easily in a case like this, it could have turned into an hour or two, right, just to get enough fire personnel walking, you know, sweeping through the different areas,” said Hennen.
Curfman is now taking extra precautions with Felix.
“We ordered a ton of air tags in the short term. I ordered a shoe insert that can go in his shoe, a little pin that we’re going to put a sheriff’s badge on that he’ll wear on his body,” said Curfman.
All as Felix gets a better gasp of boundaries.
“He’s an 8-year-old boy that is probably going to go on more adventures, so we just have to figure out how to keep him safe,” said Curfman.
If you have a newer car, you may be in for some sticker shock when you renew your Minnesota license tabs. That’s because the formula for calculating fees has changed due to a 2023 bill.
If your car is less than five years old, you could even be seeing tab prices go up year over year.
Jeff Craig drives a Subaru Forester. He bought it used, but was shocked when he renewed his tabs.
“We paid the tab on it for the first time and the next year it was more expensive,” Craig said.
The new formula means the average driver paid $178 in registration taxes this year — a 20% increase. Craig thinks it unfair.
“The car depreciates, but the tax goes up? Really? Is that how that’s supposed to work? I don’t thing so,” he said.
But the 2023 bill didn’t just change the state’s overall formula for calculating license tab fees; it also changed the way it calculates the depreciation of your vehicle.
The state calculates that your new car loses 5% of its value a year, so 10% over two years. The Kelley Blue Book estimates that over two years, the average new car loses 30% of its value.
GOP state Sen. John Jasinski has a bill to roll back the changes.
“People are frustrated. It’s just very expensive,” Jasinski said. “You’re paying a lot more up in the first couple years now, and it’s very expensive on a new car.”
But the state says tabs for older cars are going down, and that many Minnesota drivers will pay less. And If you can hang onto your car for 11 years, your renewal cost is a flat $35 plus taxes and fees.
The bill to roll back the changes is moving forward in the GOP-controlled House, but it’s stalled in the state Senate.
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