May 20, 2025
The 2025 legislative session managed to pass some bills before the deadline, but many others fell short. Legislative leaders have given their caucuses until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, to finalize the remaining bills. They hope to reconvene for a special session in the days that follow. A full recap is available here, and MCH will do a full analysis of the legislative session once everything is passed.
One of the bills that did pass on time was the Housing Omnibus Bill. The Housing budget was $15M and the Housing Conference Committee did everything they could while acknowledging it wasn’t enough. As advocates, we should be proud that within a legislative session that had to do more cutting than increasing funding, housing was enough of a bipartisan priority that there were INCREASES to some programs.
- Family Homelessness Prevention and Assistance Program (FHPAP) received $8.35M in one-time funding AND a $900K ongoing increase to the base budget. This is remarkable, even though it falls drastically short of the need. FHPAP has been on MCH’s legislative agenda for many years. As a refresher, it also received $103M in one-time funding during the 2023/24 legislative session.
- Housing Infrastructure Bonds – received $50M to develop more housing.
- Challenge Program received $2M in one-time funding
- Workforce Homeownership Program received $2M in one-time funding
- Greater MN Housing Infrastructure program received $2M in one-time funding
- MMCDC for the community-based first-generation homebuyers assistance program received $2M in one-time funding
- Homeownership Assistance Fund received $2M in one-time funding
Check out the footage of MCH Fellow Jason Urbanczyk testifying in support of the Housing Omnibus Bill here.
Stay tuned for more information when the special session comes to a close.
