How 2024’s Election Could Impact Minneapolis Housing Providers – Part 1

With a presidential election slated for November, national politics are a big deal. And while politicians of all parties tend to make a lot of promises and threats in election years that never come to pass, there are some troubling promises on the horizon for housing providers, tenants, and both duplex sellers and buyers from both parties.

Project 2025, a 900-some page document produced by the Heritage Foundation and backed and/or written by over 100 former staffers for President Trump maps a plan for the administration going forward. And while Trump disavows any knowledge of the project, the HUD chapter was written by Benjamin Carson MD, who was HUD secretary during his administration.

If you haven’t had a chance to read Chapter 15 of the 2025 Plan, you should. I’m no policy wonk, and it’s taken several days for me to somewhat understand.

Highlights of it include:

• Eliminating the new Housing Supply Fund. This $50 billion program was created to help fund the development of affordable housing through loans and Low-Income Tax credits to help increase housing supply and as a result, stabilize housing prices. Now, when there isn’t enough housing, local governments and tenants organizations seem to decide rent control is the solution instead of supply. Twin Cities duplex, triplex and fourplex owners know this all too-well.
• Implement maximum term limits for tenant assistance programs like Section 8 (Project Based Rent Assistance and Tent Based Rental Assistance, also known as PBRA and TBRA. Two million people in 1.2 million households nationwide depend on these programs in order to afford housing.
• The president’s administration to oppose any efforts to weaken single-family zoning. The proposal does suggest, however, these decisions should largely be left to localities.
• Dismantle the Biden Administration’s Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) policies which were intended to help ensure fairness in appraisals. Homes in neighborhoods associated with certain racial or ethnic groups frequently appraise for less than the purchase price on a sales agreement. In fact, 15.4 percent of Latino home sellers and 12.5% of black sellers experience this every year.
• Increase FHA mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) for FHA insured loans amortized over 30 years. However, if a home buyer chooses a 20-year amortization, leaving MIP the same. A 20-year amortization period on a $350,000 loan at 7% interest increases monthly payments by $385 per month over a 30-year amortization. If payments are higher, buyers don’t qualify to buy higher-priced properties.

If you’re a landlord, tenant, home owner or home buyer, it may make sense for you to read this chapter and any others that interest you before you vote. You can find it here.