MICAH NorthEast Chapter Legislative Breakfast & Chapter Report - John Slade

The NorthEast Suburban Chapter’s legislative breakfast focused on three issues – the Emergency Homeless shelter in Washington County, the new Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) money that will come forward (thank you for raising taxes for affordable housing!) and the Lead Safe Homes bill at the State Legislature. We had nearly 50 people come by and legislators from all levels of government.

We had great presentations from the Washington County staff responsible for developing the shelter, led by Sarah Tripple, the Washington County Community Services division manager. American Rescue Plan dollars were allocated at the county level to buy and renovate an existing building – likely a hotel – to open a 30-bed emergency housing shelter where none currently exist. The County has since hired a broker and they are looking at various locations around the County. The Washington County Community Development Agency (CDA) will be the lead agency on this project.

We thanked the Washington County commissioners who voted to allocate this money, and asked what we can do to make sure the project will be open for service as quickly as possible.

On the Ramsey County side, their County Board has also taken action to move forward issues of housing and homelessness! The County had unused taxing capacity, their Housing and Redevelopment Association (HRA) board was able to but had not yet done a tax levy, and this year they did so! The $10 million a year this is expected to be raised will be used in both St. Paul and suburban Ramsey County, and the Board is firmly committed to the bulk of that going to assist in the creation of housing at the 30% Area Median Income level. That would be for a family of four making about $30,000 a year or less. County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt led the presentation and answered questions afterwards.

On the State level, we are pushing YET AGAIN for the Lead Safe Homes Bill. This legislation, to reduce lead poisoning in children in Minnesota, has been all but over the finish line for several years. This year we need both the House and the Senate to push for these protections.

MICAH NorthEast Chapter’s 2021 Community Hero Awardee is…. Settled!

MICAH’s NorthEast Suburban Chapter awarded Settled a Community Hero Award. Settled is building Sacred Settlements, which are tiny home communities partnered with faith communities. They have been very active in the NorthEast area, including partnerships with Trinity Lutheran in Stillwater and Woodland Hills in Maplewood.