Ramsey County Board Workshop on Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA) – April 14, 2026
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Ramsey County Board Workshop on Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA) – April 14, 2026
On April 14, 2026, the Ramsey County Board held a workshop to review the Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA) program, past investments, and proposed uses for 2026. The workshop featured a joint presentation by the Housing Stability and Community & Economic Development (CED) departments. No formal votes were taken.
Discussion Items
- LAHA Overview: Staff explained that LAHA is a quarter-cent sales tax collected across the seven-county metro area. 50% of funds go to counties, 25% to eligible cities, and 25% to Minnesota Housing/MHFA for rental vouchers. The tax has no sunset clause. Ramsey County has about 19% of the region's cost-burdened households and receives about 19% of county-designated funds. The 2025 full-year allocation to Ramsey County was $15.9 million. Eligible uses include emergency rental assistance, financial support to nonprofit providers, construction/rehabilitation/preservation of affordable housing, operating financially distressed properties, supportive services, and emergency shelter operations. Local governments must obligate funds within three years and spend within four years.
- Past Investments: In 2024 (partial year), Ramsey County received $6 million: $1 million supported the Project Home family shelter acquisition at Bandana Square, and $5 million stabilized 11 supportive housing properties via a support-and-stabilize program. In 2025, of the $15.9 million, $11.9 million was allocated through the housing development solicitation for preservation/rehabilitation, funding approximately 15 projects and preserving 849 units (including 212 previously unrestricted units). Examples included the Belero apartments in White Bear Lake (29 units restricted to 50% AMI) and the Bot building in Frogtown. Another $2 million supported eviction prevention, serving 2,375 eviction court cases; $2 million funded shelter operations and supportive services.
- 2026 Investment Strategy: Staff described a new joint strategy between HSD and CED, rooted in existing plans such as the Heading Home Ramsey needs assessment, the Economic Inclusion Plan, and the deeply affordable housing initiative. Assuming a similar allocation (~$15.9 million), the recommended split is approximately $8 million for affordable housing supply and $8 million for downstream services and prevention.
- CED Proposal: $8 million would increase rental housing supply at 30% and 50% of area median income (AMI), allocated through the 2026 housing development solicitation (opened April 13, due May 26, 2026). Funds would be placed in a newly established local housing trust fund to meet obligation deadlines and provide flexibility.
- HSD Proposal: $2 million for emergency shelter operations, including expanding capacity at the Project Home/Interfaith Action shelter and Catholic Charities' second floor (32 unused beds). $2 million for rental assistance and prevention, including a coordinated "Rent Help Ramsey" one-door approach and wraparound case management. $4 million for coordinated entry and housing support investments, including an overhaul of the coordinated entry system, efforts to reach "function zero" for homeless veterans (26 veterans currently on the list), pilot wraparound services, and added flexible assistance to the housing support program.
- Commissioner Questions and Positions: Commissioners asked about the tax's duration, direct city allocations, whether smaller cities could access Ramsey County funds, and the impact of changing federal priorities on providers. Staff confirmed funds are flexible and must supplement, not replace, local investments. Commissioner McMurtry expressed support for the function zero goal and asked about strategic approaches for populations such as LGBTQ youth and seniors. Commissioner Devinson raised the need for cross-departmental staffing support for shelter operations. Commissioner Zhang asked how to connect with households before they reach eviction court, noting background-check discrimination; staff described the upstream Rent Help Ramsey approach. Commissioner Moran and others stressed the need for consistent, meaningful metrics to measure progress, particularly amid a stagnant housing market. Several commissioners praised the inter-departmental collaboration.
Key Outcomes
- No votes taken; workshop discussion only.
- Next steps: 2026 housing development solicitation applications are due May 26, 2026. LAHA aid amounts are expected to be announced in June or July 2026. CED will bring recommended housing development awards with LAHA funding to the board in summer 2026, along with a board action to establish the local housing trust fund. HSD will incorporate its 2026 LAHA allocation through existing administrative and procurement processes. CED and HSD will monitor obligations and spending for the annual report to Minnesota Housing due in November 2026.
- Future process: Starting in 2027, LAHA allocations will be integrated into the county's regular budgeting and procurement cycles rather than a board workshop process, with ongoing evaluation of program impacts.
Meeting Transcript
Business. Great. Well, thank you all for coming. Welcome to the Ramsey County Board Workshop. Today's workshop will be a presentation on the investing in the housing continuum, planning and implementing local affordable housing aid or LAHA. Curtis reminder that this board workshop is recorded and it is live streamed on Zoom webinar. There will be no votes taken during this workshop. We'll start with an introduction of commissioners and presenters around the table, and then the rest of the room. So I will start with uh Mary Joe McGuire, County Commissioner District 2. Target Evansing, County Commissioner District 1. Reena Muling, Mr. May District 4. Link Becker County Manager. Max Holderson, Deputy Director of Community and Academic Fall. Jamie Wilkins, Director of Housing Stability. Garrison McMurtry, Commissioner District 3. Rafael Agenda, District Five. Christy Planning Manager. Ann Schwartz, economic development specialist with C V D. Chair Padonas, Economic Development Specialist and Captain Pierce, County Supervisors, House of Little. CI. Karen Grand Swag, Deputy County Manager, Movie Services and C once. Great. Well, thank you all for thank you all for being here. The local affordable housing aid or LA is a relatively new sales tax collected across the seven county metro area and can be used on affordable housing and services. This year, our housing stability and community and economic development departments partnered together to create a process for allocating LaHA to important projects and programs. Today we will hear from staff to learn more about this funding source our past investments and the proposed 2026 uses of LaHA. Let's start with, oh yeah, we already did that. So thank you. Thank you for being here. And I'm going to turn it off over to you, Max and Jenny. Yeah. Thanks. Max and I brought you some trinkets. So you have some squishy houses that were not really that squishy. So Amazon got two star reviews. They're very hard, which um housing can sometimes be complicated and hard. So squeeze away. You also got some post-it notes on your table for um to write um some ideas that you have or questions down that spark ideas that help with housing stability. So enjoy from the housing team. Well, chairs, commissioners, we're excited today to um have our probably fifth board workshop on local affordable housing aid over the years. First, we were just getting acquainted with what these funds were and what they could be used for. And now we have a couple years under our belt of actually making investments with local affordable housing aid. And then we're kind of on the dawn of a new partnership between housing stability and community academic development, where we're working really working together on a whole suite of uh proposed uses of this fund and a process moving forward. Um, since this has been a very new source, um, we've kind of been in this board workshop cycle where um proposed uses are coming to the board through the workshop. And now that we're in our third year of the funding, we're um looking forward to trying to like operationalizing these funds within our existing uh administrative policies through purchasing and contracting and um board action. Carrie and Karen, Deputy County Managers, Collins and Francois said you guys just take it away. And so uh we'll skip the introductions piece and uh Commissioner McLean. Thank you for your introduction on the source as well. So our goals today, uh first we'll start off with reviewing local affordable housing raha.
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