Essay
Pros
The bill creates and funds rent assistance program administered by the Minnesota Housing Finance Industry. It would assist families who are in the bottom 50% of median household incomes ($58,650) and spend more than 30% of their income on rent. “No single policy initiative can do more to directly eliminate homelessness than this one,” said Rep. Michael Howard. Government would save on emergency shelter solutions in the long run. Evictions would go down. State has been running a budget surplus so
https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/bs/93/HF0011.pdf
Cons
It would cost 2 billion dollars and take up 6% of the state’s budget. Budget would go from .5% to 6%. The bill does nothing to address the housing shortage which is what is causing rent prices to go up. Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia said, “This does nothing to take away our inventory issues.” Does not increase housing supply. To deal with the housing crisis we need to produce more affordable housing.
https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/02/07/minnesota-democrats-renew-push-to-provide-rental-assistance-to-all-low-income-residents/