This decade began with 170,000 lower income families in the Twin Cities metropolitan area poorly housed by federal standards.  Unless dramatic new solutions are found to this problem, more than 20,000 households will be added to this number each decade.  More and more of our working families will be paying beyond what they can afford, or forced to reside in substandard housing.  The economic vitality of the region will also be threatened.

This website is dedicated to the premise that part of the key to closing the affordability gap is to get cities to do more.  Cities cannot close this gap by themselves—additional public funding is essential—but cities play a critical role in getting low cost housing built, and there is considerable room for improvement.  If all cities combined a political commitment with imaginative use of available tools to promote affordable housing, we could stretch our current resources significantly farther.

Every municipality in the seven county metropolitan area must update its comprehensive plan by 2008, including plans and implementation programs for providing adequate housing opportunities that meet its share of the regional housing need.  Planning and development techniques exist that could make significant inroads in these problems.  This website is intended as an evolving resource that will provide tools for citizens to advocate for effective plans and implementation programs in their communities.  Click here for a guide to the website.