There is not enough housing being built in the Twin Cities and existing housing is too expensive for many residents. This lack of housing affordability puts at risk the vitality and prosperity of the region and will make existing racial and economic gaps worse, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only made the need to act more urgent. Leaders of corporations, government, nonprofits and all organizations must work together now to turn the tide before we become as unaffordable as coastal cities. In 2019, the Itasca Project assembled a task force to build on a handful of the ~30 recommendations made in the More Places to Call Home, a statewide task force that concluded in 2018. The task force identified three focus areas for action: clarity through data, partnering with employers to pilot housing-forward benefits packages, and innovating in how to increase housing production while lowering costs of new units. More details can be found below:
Full Report (pdf, 22 pages)
Executive Summary (pdf, 2 pages)
Infographic (pdf, 1 page)
Housing Innovation Report
This report outlines the Itasca Project Housing Innovation Working Group’s recommendations for how corporate, government, nonprofit and other leaders can use innovative practices to increase production and lower the cost of housing in the region.
With these and other innovations, the MSP region can meet its production target of 18,000 homes per year. The working group emphasized that leaders in all sectors will need to approach housing production creatively if our region is to meet this ambitious goal year after year. Leaders must not only adopt the new and familiar innovations from this report and encourage others to do the same, but find new ways to collaborate with each other.
