Deeply Affordable Housing Infrastructure Initiative

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Communities across Ramsey County have identified the need for deeply affordable housing. 15,000 units affordable to residents making less than 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI) are needed throughout the county according to the Economic Competitiveness & Inclusion Plan (ECIP). 

In August 2021, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners approved $37 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for deeply affordable housing. The funding will expand the supply of units affordable to residents making less than 30% AMI through new construction and preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing.The City of Saint Paul has also dedicated $37.5 million of ARPA funds for deeply affordable housing expansion. This collaboration will infuse more than $74 million of federal funding into the communities of Ramsey County which will be loaned to non-profit and private developers.

Housing Investments

Neighborhoods, cities, service providers and government agencies have a long history of working towards the preservation and construction of deeply affordable housing. The need is well documented in local comprehensive plans, small area plans, housing stability planning efforts and in Ramsey County’s Economic Competitiveness & Inclusion Plan.

View affordable housing infrastructure investments

In 2022, Ramsey County and the City of Saint Paul joined the House America initiative led by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) to set and track re-housing & housing supply goals based on the impact of the American Rescue Plan. To track these goals, data was collected from Ramsey County’s Housing Stability and Community and Economic Development departments, along with the city of Saint Paul, Saint Paul’s Public Housing Authority (PHA), and Metropolitan Council’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

Overall, 1,290 households were re-housed, which means a household was successfully placed from homelessness into a stable housing situation, during October 2021 through the end of December 2022. This met about 76% of the county’s House America goals. Additionally, 415 rental units at 30% Area Median Income (AMI) were approved for funding over the same time period and met about 71% of the county’s House America goals, growing the housing supply exponentially from 2019 to 2022.

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Baseline

(1/1/19-3/30/20)

Goal

(10/1/21-12/31-22)

Actual

(10/1/21-12/31-22)

Rehousing

1,444 

 1,699 

1,290 

Housing Supply

12

582 

415 

Planning and engagement

Ramsey County continues to partner with local cities, the State of Minnesota and the federal government to leverage additional dollars. To better understand how to invest $37 million into deeply affordable housing, Ramsey County partnered with the City of Saint Paul to learn from existing planning efforts and engage with service providers who directly serve residents facing housing instability. Engagement with Heading Home Ramsey, homeless shelter providers, outreach teams, law enforcement and other social service agencies occurred in Fall 2021. Lessons learned from the engagement have been embedded into our solicitation process for housing developments for the purpose of targeting units that are most needed across the housing continuum.

Read the the final engagement report (PDF)

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