Minnesota Housing Agency has announced a competitive funding program, the Workforce Housing Development Program (WHDP), targeting small to medium-sized cities, communities, or areas in Greater Minnesota with rental workforce housing needs.

Funding is available to build market-rate residential rental properties in communities with proven job growth and demand for workforce rental housing. Communities are required to secure funds that match one dollar for every two dollars in funding offered through this program.

An eligible recipient is one of the following eligible project areas:

• A home rule charter or statutory city with a population exceeding 500 located outside of a Metropolitan County.
• A community that has a combined population of 1,500 residents located within 15 miles of a home rule charter or statutory city located outside a Metropolitan County.
• An area located outside of a Metropolitan County that serves a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota, or their associated Tribally Designated Housing Entity as defined by United States Code, title 25, section 4103(22), as approved in writing by Minnesota Housing.
• An area served by a Joint County-City Economic Development Authority.

Eligible housing types are market-rate residential rental properties that serve employees of businesses located in an eligible project area. A portion of the units can have rent restrictions or income restrictions.

Eligible activities include the following or a combination of the following:

• New construction
• Acquisition and rehabilitation of a property that creates new housing units. This program would only fund those new units of housing.
• Adaptive reuse of an existing property that is not currently used for housing.

Applications are due Tuesday, April 30 by noon

Minnesota Housing will host a WHDP Application Information Session on Tuesday, Feb. 13, via GoToWebinar. The information session will include an overview of program updates and statutory changes, eligibility requirements, timelines, and other important RFP information, and will allow time for questions.

WHDP RFP information session details

• Tuesday, Feb. 13
• 10– 11:30 a.m. CT
• Register Here