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Housing & Economic Development <br />• A 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 <br />of existing housing stock, including unsubsidized, naturally occurring affordable housing <br />that is affordable to residents throughout the low -to -moderate income range; <br />• State funded housing programs, including rental assistance, to help with rent <br />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 <br />tax 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 <br />banking, land trusts, and rehabilitation and construction of affordable housing; <br />• Programs that help avoid foreclosures, improve homeownership rates and reduce <br />racial disparities through homeownership assistance programs and counseling services, <br />including pre -purchasing counseling to improve financial wellness and inform homeowners <br />and potential homeowners of their rights, options and costs associated with owning a home; <br />• Preserving and expanding the state 4d low-income property tax program which <br />provides a property tax benefit to qualifying low-income rental properties; <br />0- An affordable housing tax credit to help spur construction and secure additional <br />private investment. This incentive could be used in conjunction with city, regional, or other <br />state incentives; and <br />• Maintaining existing municipal authority to establish a housing improvement area <br />(HIA). If the Legislature grants multi -jurisdictional entities the authority to create HIAs, <br />2019 Legislative Policies <br />25 <br />