As construction season winds down, MPHA has completed one of its largest single-year efforts to repair its deeply affordable family housing portfolio. All told, the agency invested nearly $5 million on 19 major exterior enveloping renovations, 41 “deep turns,” and extensive repairs to four single-family homes that had been offline and uninhabited for years because of extensive capital needs. Funding for these renovations came from a one-time $1.3 million grant from Minnesota Housing’s Stable Housing Organization Relief Program (SHORP) and funding from the City of Minneapolis. These 64 newly renovated homes are ready to serve MPHA families for generations to come.

For the 19 exterior enveloping renovations, work included replacing older roofs, soffit/fascia and gutters, drafty windows, and/or outdated siding. For the 41 “deep turns,” work is completed following family move-outs and before the next family moves in. It includes kitchen and bath renovations, furnace and water heater replacements, and electrical, plumbing, and mechanical repair work. More cosmetic repairs like floor refinishing or replacement, replacing doors and trim, and painting walls is also done at this time to ensure homes are maintained to serve future generations of MPHA families.

Unique to this year’s work is the major renovation of four single-family homes that had previously been offline and uninhabited for years because of major capital needs on each home. These homes included a two-bedroom, three-bedroom, four-bedroom, and five-bedroom home. Located in the Hiawatha, Howe, Corcoran, and Longfellow neighborhoods, these four homes received work including complete kitchen and bath rehabilitation, floor refinishing, plumbing and electric upgrades, and foundation repairs. Additionally, some received major exterior enveloping repair work.

Restoring these homes comes at a critical time for the agency, with MPHA recently adding more than 2,100 families to its family housing waitlist – the first time opening this waitlist in three years. With the family housing waitlist now sitting at more than 4,300 families, and eclipsing more than 7,500 in recent years, the agency continues to invest in the preservation and production within its deeply affordable family housing portfolio, as evidenced by this effort and its internationally lauded Family Housing Expansion Project (FHEP).

This marks the halfway point of an effort announced earlier this year that MPHA would deploy $10 million in funding for this repair effort, aiming to repair an estimated 125 homes in its portfolio. Unfortunately, working with Minnesota Housing to develop and execute a grant agreement enabling the agency to deploy the direct one-time cash grant of $5 million it received as a part of the legislature’s 2023 billion-dollar housing budget took longer than anticipated, ultimately delaying the work into next year’s construction season. However, there is a silver lining to the delayed deployment of the $5 million direct appropriation.

When MPHA secured the first-of-its-kind direct appropriation from the state legislature in 2023, the agency estimated the funding would cover the cost for exterior enveloping projects and structural repairs at about 50-60 homes in its portfolio, based on recent construction costs. At that time, there was volatility in the construction market, increasing the costs on just about everything. However, 18 months later, the bids MPHA received for this work last month were much lower than originally anticipated. In what may be a sign of a stabilizing construction market, MPHA will now be able to stretch these dollars even further.

Agency staff will present a bid award to be approved by the MPHA Board of Commissioners in its December meeting, after which staff will know how much of the $5 million remains uncommitted and that can be invested in additional repairs beyond the initial 50-60 exterior enveloping and structural repair projects.

In the coming months, MPHA staff will work closely with staff from Minnesota Housing to develop an approved deployment plan for the remaining uncommitted funding with the aim of deploying the full $5 million during the 2025 construction season and help as many MPHA families as possible. And as the 2025 legislative session at the Minnesota State Capitol nears, agency leaders will also continue the years-long effort to secure a large state investment to clear the entire capital backlog of its deeply affordable family housing portfolio, currently estimated at $35 million.