Housing Statement: We Need Leaders Who Invest in Outcomes over Optics

In this moment of federal crisis, people need leadership that is accountable, visionary, and deeply invested in people – not just performance. We need elected leaders who share credit to address community needs, rather than seek credit for individual recognition. That’s why it’s both misleading and harmful when leaders claim results without fully funding the work or acknowledging their partners. In a moment when trust in government is rapidly eroding and household instability is increasing – we must call for accountable leadership that prioritizes outcomes over optics. 

Every day, families are faced with heartbreaking decisions regarding a safe place to lay their heads at night. Housing is more than shelter. Housing has proven to directly impact health outcomes, educational attainment, economic stability, as well as safety and belonging. And the work it takes to make housing truly affordable, especially for those who are most vulnerable, is complex, collaborative, and deeply underfunded. 

This is why it is necessary to add context to the misleading and inflated claims about housing affordability and the state of homelessness in Minneapolis that have been circulating, many of them coming directly from Mayor Jacob Frey. In an election year, these statements obscure the truth and mislead people. And that’s exactly the problem: we need leaders who bring people together, not ones who build a narrative that benefits themselves at the expense of others. We need leadership that builds trust, not headlines. 

The truth is: women, people of color, community leaders, public servants, and front-line workers have been leading the fight for housing justice. And we are being publicly erased by a Mayor who continues to center his individual leadership as responsible for results that he did not lead, accelerate, or deliver.

Housing Justice is a Collective Effort

In a recent social media post, Mayor Frey claimed that Minneapolis is producing 8.5 times more deeply affordable housing than when he took office in 2018. This statement implies that the City is leading this work alone – and that this work is sufficient compared to the intensifying housing needs for our residents. But the reality is that most of this housing has only been made possible through coordinated efforts with Hennepin County, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA), state and federal partners, nonprofit developers, and community providers.

“Affordable” is defined as housing at or below 80% of Area Median income (AMI), which equates to about $104,200 for a four-person household. “Deeply affordable” refers to housing at or below 30% of Area Median Income (AMI), which equates to about $40,000 for a four-person household. 

I joined the County Board in 2019 and was honored to be elected Chair of our Housing and Redevelopment Authority. During my first year in office, I was proud that the Hennepin County Board was the first jurisdiction in Minnesota to adopt a policy position around deeply affordable housing – and we remain the only local jurisdiction with a dedicated funding stream focused solely on deeply affordable housing via our Supportive Housing Strategy. 

In 2021, Commissioner Conley was elected as Chair of our Housing and Redevelopment Authority. From 2021 to 2025, Hennepin County awarded funding to create or preserve 4,746 units of affordable rental housing in Minneapolis – including 1,850 deeply affordable units at 30% AMI, and 1,891 affordable units between 31% to 50% AMI. All but 85 of the deeply affordable units also had funding from the City, which I am especially proud of because Hennepin’s Single Room Occupancy strategy is nation-leading. 

The work of building deeply affordable housing requires intense coordination, long-term investment, person-centered strategies, and locally raised resources. It takes contributions from every level of government, strong nonprofit developers, and community advocates. When Mayor Frey counts federal tax credits, State-issued bonds, and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) allocations as City contributions – he distorts the public’s understanding of what true local investment can look like. These are not new dollars being raised and allocated, they are pass-throughs, incentives, or future funds redirected. This matters, because residents deserve to know who is really putting the money on the table to fix housing problems.

Here’s the larger picture:  

  • The City often focuses on legal or zoning changes, and these are important, but it is others that step in to help fund, build, and operate the actual housing itself. 

  • Federal tax credits are not City funds. Most nonprofit and public developers (like MPHA) can’t use them directly and must sell them to third parties, so the money doesn’t even flow through the City. Yet the City counts these federal dollars as its own contribution.

  • State conduit financing bonds are issued by the State of Minnesota, with the City acting as a conduit to developers. Again, this isn’t City funding – it’s State financing that the City facilitates. 

  • Tax Increment Financing (TIF) allows the City to divert future tax revenue from projects to pay developers today. This means money that would’ve gone to schools, parks, libraries, and transit – gets rerouted to fund the housing development. It’s not “new” money – it is future public funding redirected, which may have a negative impact on school or park budgets. And in many cases, the City contributes only a fraction of the actual development cost. 

Unlike the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County does not count State-issued bonds or federal tax credits as part of our own financial contribution. When we say that we funded something, we mean we put up our own dollars. 

And when it comes to homelessness, Hennepin County leads nearly all work related to homelessness in Minneapolis. This includes shelter operations, outreach, and housing stability programs. In 2024 alone, Hennepin County invested over $150 million – and authorized an additional $97 million, for homelessness, renter support, and expanding deeply affordable housing. 

Mayor Frey has minimized the scale of unsheltered homelessness, and has stated only 27 people were unhoused in Minneapolis. In reality, Hennepin County data confirmed 427 at the beginning of this year, with the vast majority located within Minneapolis. Our teams at Hennepin County are out in the community on a daily basis, and the reality of the scale of homelessness in Minneapolis is much closer to the Point In Time count levels than the Mayor claims. These numbers are not just wrong, they’re dangerously misleading. Because when data is inaccurately minimized, then we are not able to truly meet our communities’ needs.

What Residents Deserve

The bottom line is: the City of Minneapolis absolutely should be doing much more for affordable and deeply affordable housing – and I look forward to the Mayor’s upcoming 2026 Budget proposal that matches the scale of need. 

This is not just about where credit is due, it is about showing up and supporting people in need in times of crisis. On behalf of countless people who have dedicated their lives to housing justice, I urge Mayor Frey to: 

  • Stop claiming credit for federal, state, and County-funded work, especially related to deeply affordable housing. Name your partners and acknowledge the people, especially women and people of color, who are doing the day-to-day work toward housing justice in our communities. 

  • Be transparent about funding tools like tax credits, TIF, and conduit bonds – and the real and cascading impacts they carry. 

  • Match just 10% of the County’s current emergency shelter investment in the 2026 Budget. The City has not directly funded shelter operations, and instead, has spent more funds evicting encampments than funding shelters. 

  • Stop underfunding public housing. The Mayor has the authority to levy up to 0.0185% of estimated market value for MPHA, yet the City is currently allocating just $5 million. That’s far below what’s possible, and what’s needed.

This statement is not just about data. It's about values, and the kind of leadership our communities deserve. The kind of leadership that fights for housing because it saves lives. The kind that shares credit, funds the work, and uplifts those who’ve been doing it for years without recognition. In this moment, Minneapolis needs leaders who invest in people, not platforms – and who build trust, not just a brand.

Makena Fitzpatrick