HousingLink - Affordable Housing Production and Preservation in the Twin Cities metro area.

Housing Counts consists of both a report and interactive visualization, each of which provides an annual accounting of affordable housing projects in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and suburban communities. It offers a systematic and consistent way of measuring progress to municipal and regional affordable housing goals. Navigate the visualization below by exploring three tabs:

Rental by AMI: View total unit counts of affordable rental by targeted band of area median income: 30%, 60%, or 80%; filter data by geography.
Rental by New vs Preservation: View total unit counts of affordable rental by new construction vs preservation/stabilization; filter data by geography.
Ownership: View total unit counts of new affordable ownership units (Habitat for Humanity and land trusts) by targeted band of area median income: 30%, 60%, or 80%; filter data by geography.

Housing Counts Data 2023

Due to a combination of factors ranging from construction costs to higher interest rates, we have been observing over the past year a softening of the multifamily development market, and evidence of that is seen in our new release of Housing Counts.

The Twin Cities’ 3,589 total units of affordable rental housing produced in 2023 was down 35 percent from the previous year’s total of 5,488, coming in at its lowest total since prior to the pandemic (3,156 units were produced in 2019). New units fell most starkly, down 72 percent from 2022 (1,044 total units, down from 3,707), but preservation totals actually rose (up 43% from 1,781 to 2,545). This was in large part due to the growing number successes among communities offering standalone 4D programs, including an impressive 464 units opting into St. Louis Park’s program, leading to a 291% increase of units preserved in the suburbs year–over-year.

In the face of a market perpetually short of housing units and with an uncertain housing construction climate looking forward, cities and developers will have to continue to explore creative market-driven solutions to increase and preserve our affordable rental supply.

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 dataset provides an annual accounting of affordable housing projects in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and suburban communities, offering a systematic 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.

Housing Counts 2002-2023
Reports prior to 2023 are available within our Housing Counts 2002-2022 compilation

Notes on the data:

Housing Counts has been possible through the years in large part due to willing statewide, regional, and local contributors of data that help us tally initial counts and subsequently review our findings, offering additional detail as necessary on projects within their respective jurisdictions. Our process evolved and simplified in 2023 as we partnered with the Metropolitan Council to utilize data from its annual Housing Production Survey. This partnership reduced the overall reporting burden on local government partners and increased the scope of our data inputs.
The list of projects identifies how many affordable units are planned/preserved at three levels of affordability—30 percent, 50 percent, and 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). This corresponds with affordability restrictions required by certain funding streams.
The data set counts units in the year their project financing first closes and includes only developments with public and/or private capital funding that includes affordability obligations.
The report tables divide the projects into three main categories: new production of rental units, new production of homeownership units, and preservation/stabilization of existing rental units.
Rental assistance to renters, financial assistance directly to home buyers, and shelter beds are not included in this data set.
Developments that are designed specifically to serve seniors are indicated with an asterisk in the reports.
Properties included on the preservation/stabilization list were especially at risk of being lost due to major deterioration, financial crisis, or conversion to market-rate rents. This list does not include essential routine capital improvements.
Demolition permit numbers are included to give some context to the production numbers in relation to the number of units lost in the region’s housing stock. However, the demolition number comes from demolition permit issues only; because of this, the actual number of units lost, the affordability level, and the condition of these lost units is unknown.

Questions About the Data?

Dan Hylton
Research Manager
HousingLink
dhylton@housinglink.org

Media Inquires:

Sue Speakman-Gomez
President
HousingLink
sgomez@housinglink.org

Click here to explore our other research resources!