regional housing initiative may 2007

8/15/2019 Regional Housing Initiative May 2007

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Concept for Discussion

Regional Housing InitiativeMay 2007

Over the last two years, representatives from Kootasca, AEOA, St. Louis County HRA, andItasca County HRA have discussed the need for a Region-wide approach to addressing some

aspects of housing needs in the Arrowhead.

While the Regional Housing Advisory Group (RHAG) meetings have provided effective

communication, there are many other housing issues that transcend communication:

1. Scale. Our efforts for low-moderate income (LMI), workforce and senior housing are

fragmented among many local entities. Frequently, these are confronted with need for

relatively small scale projects - sometimes in scattered sites, limited or no experience in

the development and management of the specific type of project needed, and funding

sources that view larger projects as more economical and attractive. A region-widehousing collaborative may be more effective in providing peer-to-peer technical

assistance or sharing organization capacity across jurisdictional boundaries, andaccessing funding by aggregating projects to address the issues of project scale in the

context of funding source preference for projects of scale.

2. Collaboration. Several of the regions many housing entities develop and retain expertise

in some particular aspects of housing: development, market analysis, single family, multi-

family, finance, etc. However, these capacities are dispersed in entities across the regionwith no one entity possessing them all. A regional approach may be able to facilitate

cross-jurisdictional use of expertise from within the regions existing housing

professionals. The intent is not to displace local housing project initiatives or staff,but to offer support through the existing cadre of housing professionals who cannot

currently work outside their funding and jurisdictionalboundaries.

3. Funding. Funding is critical to enable the production of deliverables such as:demographic analyses, writing of funding requests, developing housing proposals, reports

of state and federal programs, new funding sources, regional trends, etc. Regional

housing would seek support funding for the production of these deliverables throughvarious non-profit and state/ or federal sources, provided that there is a position and

agency willing to provide the staff resource for these potential funding streams.

4. Liaison. Organizations such as the Minnesota Housing Partnership, Minnesota HousingFinance Agency, Greater Minnesota Housing Fund and others need a single point of

contact through which to convey their program direction and support for local housing

projects. Conversely, regional housing professionals need a position to convey theirneeds, advocate for their interests, and ensure that local housing officials are aware of the

opportunities and programs available through regional and state entities.


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Concept for Discussion

Regional Housing InitiativeMay 2007

ARDC houses the Arrowhead Agency on Aging. A long-term goal may be to establish

the Regional Housing Advisory Committee as a formal and permanent component ofARDC in a similar manner to the AAA. Since the Aging group does address housing

issues for seniors in the region, there may be significant synergies in hosting the housing

committee staff within ARDC.

More importantly, the Commission is comprised of community leaders and elected

officials who could become active proponents of better public policy, increased funding,and more effective coordination of housing programs in the region.

regional housing initiative may 2007

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