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Metro Cities supports: <br />•Increased, sustainable and adequate state funding for new and existing programs that <br />support life cycle, workforce and affordable housing, address homeownership disparities, <br />address foreclosure mitigation, address housing for families with children, and support <br />senior, transitional and emergency housing for the metro region; <br />•An ongoing state match for local and regional housing trust fund investments and local <br />policies in support of affordable housing. State funds should be issued on a timeline that <br />works with a city’s budget process; <br />•Private sector funding for workforce housing; <br />•Housing programs that assist housing development, preservation and maintenance of <br />existing housing stock, including unsubsidized, naturally occurring affordable housing that <br />is affordable to residents throughout the low-to- moderate income range; <br />•State funded housing assistance programs to help with affordability; <br />•Housing programs designed to develop market rate housing in census blocks with <br />emerging or high concentrations of poverty, where the private market might not otherwise <br />invest, as a means of creating mixed-income communities and reconciling affordable <br />housing with community development goals; <br />•Continuing the policy of using the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency’s investment <br />earnings for housing programs; <br />•City input into state legislation and administrative policies regarding distribution of tax <br />credits and tax-exempt bonding; <br />•Exemptions from, or reductions to sales, use and transaction taxes applied to the <br />development and production of affordable housing; <br />•Consideration of the use of state bond proceeds and other appropriations for land banking, <br />land trusts, and rehabilitation and construction of affordable housing; <br />•Programs that help avoid foreclosures, improve homeownership rates and reduce racial <br />disparities through homeownership assistance programs and counseling services, <br />including down payment assistance and pre-purchasing counseling to improve financial <br />wellness and inform homeowner and potential homeowners of their rights, options, and <br />costs associated with owning a home; <br />•State tenant protection policies as well as a city’s ability to enact tenant protections to <br />support access to affordable housing and housing stability for tenants; <br />46