Housing Counts Data 2020
Despite economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was strong year for affordable housing development and preservation in the Twin Cities metro region. Saint Paul and suburban communities saw significant increases in new rental housing development compared to previous years. However, new rental production in Minneapolis declined for the first time since 2016; 139 affordable units were financed for development in 2020, compared to 576 in 2019. Notably, annual preservation numbers continued to increase across the region. Minneapolis led the region in preserving the long-term affordability of 1331 rental housing units, and the number of housing units preserved in Saint Paul more than doubled compared to 2019. This increase is largely due to
4D tax incentive programs that have been implemented in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and several suburban cities.
About the Housing Counts Report Series
Each year since 2002, Family Housing Fund and HousingLink jointly publish data to provide housing leaders and stakeholders with a consistent means of tracking annual affordable housing production, preservation, and loss. The data set provide an annual accounting of affordable housing projects in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and suburban communities, offering a systemic and consistent way of measuring progress to municipal and regional affordable housing goals.
When tracking new production and preservation of affordable housing, there are several points in time when a unit could be “counted.” HousingLink and Family Housing Fund have chosen to count units in the year their funding first closes. Only developments with public and/private capital funding with affordability obligations are listed.
To compare to previous years, view HousingLink’s visualization of the data over time, below.