Last week, MPHA welcomed U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, Solomon Greene, to showcase the power of more permissible zoning laws and modular construction with tours of innovative agency and local projects. The visit comes ahead of HUD’s 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase later this summer. The tour included leaders from the national and local HUD offices, MPHA staff, City of Minneapolis CPED staff, local developers, and staff from the offices of Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Ilhan Omar.

Tours included one of MPHA’s Family Housing Expansion Project (FHEP) buildings, deeply affordable homes in a partially converted church enabled by MPHA’s project-based vouchers (Belfry Apartments), and a new modular apartment building in the Harrison neighborhood. Throughout the tours, local experts were able to share on-the-ground perspective for the advantage inclusionary zoning offers affordable housing developments, hurdles modular construction faces as the industry grows, and how federal partners can support similar projects across the county.

“We are incredibly proud of the nation-leading Family Housing Expansion Project and were happy to welcome PDAS Greene to tour and learn more about this innovative project,” said Dominic Mitchell, Deputy Executive Director at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. “MPHA continues to showcase the power of its MTW authority to develop unique solutions that address local housing needs while also serving as national models of success. Whether it be FHEP, Stable Homes Stable Schools, or the landmark Elliot Twins RAD redevelopment, MPHA is using every tool available to address the affordable housing crisis in Minneapolis.”

“En route to the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase, we wanted to lift up innovative approaches to unlocking deeply affordable housing supply around the country,” said Solomon Greene, HUD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. “In embarking on our Road to Innovation tours, MPHA’s Family Housing Extension Project was at the top of our list. I am particularly grateful that we could see the FHEP project in person: the creative problem-solving that went into the development and braiding of funds are evident on paper, but the warmth and spaciousness of the units and how well they fit into their respective neighborhoods really stood out during our visit.”

MPHA’s Family Housing Expansion Project (FHEP)

A project that continues to attract national attention and awards, MPHA’s FHEP brings “missing middle” deeply affordable housing through modular construction. The project offers 26 two- and 58 three-bedroom units in fourplexes and sixplexes across 16 sites throughout Minneapolis. All units are available to households at or below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Sixteen of the units will be disability accessible, with another 17 being high-priority homeless units with services funded through Hennepin County’s Coordinated Entry program. Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA)—the developer, owner and property manager of the project—estimates these 84 new homes will be able to serve approximately 420 families over the next 30 years.

The pioneering project leveraged the City of Minneapolis’ 2040 comprehensive plan, which at the plan’s core creates access to more housing. The subsequent upzoning allowed for smaller-scale multifamily housing, clarity in allowable building sizes, and the removal of parking making it possible build the project’s multiplexes. The visitors were interested in the project’s modular construction approach, unique team development process, challenging financial puzzle, and the lessons learned in the process.

“[FHEP] leverages so many innovations all at once – including Minneapolis first-in-the-nation comprehensive zoning reforms – to better serve communities,” said Greene. “It also demonstrates how HUD, public housing authorities, and local governments can work with the private sector to unlock creative solutions to our nation’s housing affordability challenges.”

Belfry Apartments

The Belfry Apartments brings 41 units of deeply affordable housing near 39th and Chicago in South Minneapolis—a block from George Floyd Square—while preserving a historical building’s architecture. Trellis Co. redeveloped part of Calvary Lutheran Church’s structure and built an adjacent building to create a variety of unit types: studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and four-bedroom apartments available exclusively to residents at or below 30 percent AMI, making the units deeply affordable. This was made possible, in part, by 26 of MPHA’s project-based vouchers (PBVs).

Rather than the traditional tenant-based Housing Choice Vouchers (“Section 8”) awarded to an individual or family, PBVs sit with physical units and provide developers and property managers a stable, long-term source of revenue and access to tenants from the agency’s Housing Choice Voucher waiting list. This is a powerful tool that can be leveraged to create a pipeline of subsidy-ready units across the city for some of the region’s most vulnerable residents and families. Since 2019, MPHA project-based vouchers have accounted for more than half of all deeply affordable housing built in Minneapolis, and they continue to be leveraged to create additional affordable units throughout the city.

The Belfry Apartments’ success hinged on provisions in Minneapolis’ 2040 plan, as did the FHEP. Specifically, parking requirements that the 2040 plan removed allowed for the project to increase the number of units without expanding its geographical footprint or requiring prohibitively expensive underground parking.