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 2024

Given the rising costs of developing and operating multifamily rental housing, one might have expected last year's drop in affordable housing production to be the first data point in a trend. However, numbers rebounded in 2024, and not by a little.

In new production, we saw well over double the number of units constructed metro-wide compared to the previous year (2,421 in 2024 vs. 1,044 in 2023). While these totals are well below the post-pandemic "mini-boom" of 2021 (3,605 units of new housing produced) and 2022 (3,707 units), 2024's count exceeded any other year in the over-two decade history of the Housing Counts report. Notably, new construction increased throughout Minneapolis (up 24% over 2023), Saint Paul (up 80%), and the suburban metro (up 254%!).

The total of preserved or stabilized units metro-wide was nearly double that which we saw in the previous year (5,024 as compared to 2,545) and stands alone as the highest preservation/stabilization total in the history of this report. Suburban metro communities contributed a healthy 1,422 units toward this record-setting figure, though widespread adoption of the 4D tax credit program in Minneapolis remains a primary driver in preserving mid-level affordable rental homes in the metro region. In 2024, 55% of units preserved in the metro were new adoptees of the 4D tax benefit.

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 2002-2024
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
[email protected]

Media Inquires:

Sue Speakman-Gomez
President
HousingLink
[email protected]

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