2019.01.23 CC Packet - Goal Setting Session

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Housing & Economic Development creation of an HIA must require municipal approval. 3-H Federal Role in Affordable and Workforce Housing Federal funding plays a critical role in aiding states and local governments in their efforts to maintain and increase affordable and workforce housing. Providing working families access to housing is an important piece to the economic vitality of the region. Metro Cities encourages the federal government to maintain and increase current levels of funding for affordable and workforce housing. Federal investment in affordable and workforce housing will maintain and increase the supply of affordable and life cycle housing as well as make housing more affordable through rental assistance programs such as the Section 8 housing choice voucher program. In July 2015, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a final rule on affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH) with an aim to provide communities that receive HUD funding with clear guidelines to meet their obligation under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to promote and reduce barriers to fair housing and equal opportunity. HUD has since provided new guidance to comply with the AFFH rule. Opportunity Zones is a community development program established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. The Opportunity Zones program provides a tax incentive for investors to re -invest their unrealized capital gains into Opportunity Funds that are dedicated to investing into Opportunity Zones as designated by the chief executives of every state and territory in the United States. The tax incentive is available for up to ten years. As the chief executive of the state of Minnesota, Governor Mark Dayton designated 128 census tracts across the state as Opportunity Zones, but beyond the responsibility for this designation the state does not have an additional role in the implementation of the Act. As the United States Treasury Department has yet to release rules for Opportunity Zones, there are many unknowns about the effects the Act will have on communities. It is anticipated that the Act may be a useful tool in spurring development in low-income communities and could help with business development and jobs. There are also questions about what impact the Act will have on the residents that live and businesses that operate in these communities today. For example, while development may have positive impacts such as increasing tax base or job opportunities, robust development could have unintended consequences such as displacement of current residents and businesses. Metro Cities urges the federal government to seek regular input from communities, especially from individuals and businesses within Opportunity Zones, regarding how the tool is being used, whether the tool is encouraging new development opportunities, and how community members who live in the Zones are impacted. The Federal Government should seek input from local communities throughout the implementation of the rules and regulations and consider necessary amendments and adjustments as needed in response to potential questions or concerns raised by the communities whose residents, workers, and businesses will be experiencing the changes that 2019 Legislative Policies 26