Sponsor: Community & Economic Development
Title
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Allocate 2025 Housing and Redevelopment Authority Levy for Housing Development Projects by Emerging and Diverse Developers.
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Recommendation
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1. Approve recommended projects and funding amounts for the preservation and construction of affordable housing by emerging and diverse developers.
2. Authorize the County Manager to enter into the necessary loan or other agreements and execute amendments to loan or other agreements in a manner consistent with local regulations and requirements, in a form approved by the County Attorney’s Office.
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Background and Rationale
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Ramsey County has an urgent and evident need for affordable housing, especially housing affordable to individuals and families with household incomes less than 30% of Area Median Income (AMI) and less than 50% AMI. According to Ramsey County’s Economic Competitiveness and Inclusion (ECI) Plan, the county has a deficit of 15,000 units affordable to those at or below 30% AMI. This lack of affordable housing supply leads to greater housing instability for residents and exacerbates the county’s ongoing homelessness crisis.
To help build and preserve needed housing supply, Ramsey County seeks to expand the pool of affordable housing developers, so they better reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of Ramsey County. To accomplish this, Community & Economic Development (CED) created the Emerging and Diverse Developers (EDD) Program. Ramsey County defines emerging developers as individuals or entities that have owned or developed no more than 25 units of housing or 15,000 square feet of commercial space in the last 10 years.
The EDD Program is a single program with two parts. CED contracts with NEOO Partners to provide technical assistance through a classroom cohort model, one-on-one coaching, and small-group sessions. Thirty five participants graduated from the program and their journey was celebrated at the November 18, 2025 board meeting.
The second component of the EDD Program was a competitive solicitation specifically for emerging and diverse developers. The solicitation opened on September 5, 2025, and closed on October 31, 2025. Eligible applicants could apply for development funds for the acquisition, rehabilitation, and construction of affordable housing with requested amounts not to exceed $500,000. Developers who already owned the property that they were applying for could also qualify for up to $20,000 of funding for eligible pre-development costs.
Twenty five eligible applications were received with a total requested amount of $10,319,409. An internal scoring team reviewed and scored each application in a manner consistent with the annual housing development solicitation process. Ramsey County marketed the solicitation through its contracted technical assistance partner, two in-person community meetings, on the Ramsey County website, through the CED newsletter, and direct outreach to partner organizations and municipalities.
Eight projects totaling $2,199,500 of HRA levy funds are recommended for HRA levy awards and will be funded with $2,199,500 of 2025 unallocated HRA funds.
All projects will be funded in a manner consistent with federal and local regulations and requirements in a form approved by Finance and the County Attorney’s Office. A declaration will be recorded against each property’s title that requires rental affordability for 20 years. Affordability will be monitored through an annual compliance review to ensure that property owners are maintaining income-restricted rental limits.
The following projects are recommended for HRA levy funding:
2025 Obligations from the 2025 Emerging and Diverse Developers Solicitation:
Aster Meadows Acquisition-Rehab, Noiro Group, Village of Saint Anthony $400,000
Horace House New Construction, Horace Investment, Saint Paul $279,500
415 Finn Acquisition-Rehab, GD Enterprises. Saint Paul $400,000
Van Buren Acquisition-Rehab, Kizart Development, Saint Paul $245,000
583 Lincoln Acquisition-Rehab, Nurturing Developments, Saint Paul $450,000
412 Pierce Acquisition-Rehab, Bungalow Boss, Saint Paul $225,000
418 Pierce Acquisition-Rehab, Tertle Companies, Saint Paul $100,000
422 Pierce Acquisition-Rehab, Tertle Companies, Saint Paul $100,000
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County Goals (Check those advanced by Action)
☒ Well-being ☒ Prosperity ☒ Opportunity ☒ Accountability
Racial Equity Impact
HRA levy funds will be used to implement eligible strategies from the ECI Plan by investing in projects and programs that specifically aim to reduce racial disparities in housing. These strategies include increasing the supply of deeply affordable rental units, the preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing and increasing ownership opportunities for racially and ethnically diverse developers.
Ramsey County has large racial disparities between residents of color and white residents in the housing sector. These disparities include a disproportionate number of African American and American Indian residents experiencing homelessness compared to white residents as described in Heading Home Ramsey’s 2024 Needs Assessment. Generally, residents of color are more likely to rent than own their own home and be cost-burdened by housing costs compared to white residents. This includes a 47-percentage point gap between the white homeownership rate and African American homeownership rate. To undo these historical and lasting inequities, investment is needed in communities where disparities exist.
Community Participation Level and Impact
The co-design on the EDD Program started in January of 2023 by consulting with organization that support emerging developers. Staff learned what supports are needed to compete in competitive government development solicitations. Lessons learned were shared back out with the community and incorporated into the procurement process that was used to select technical assistance (TA) providers. The TA partners hosted small group sessions to hear directly from emerging developers on the barriers they face in the development process, which informed the eligible uses and scoring criteria in the solicitation. This included the availability of pre-development funding. Furthermore, community was invited to two public in-person meetings at local libraries to learn more about the EDD Program and the solicitation. This solicitation is another step towards the implementation of the community driven ECI plan.
☒ Inform ☐ Consult ☐ Involve ☐ Collaborate ☐ Empower
Fiscal Impact
The eight projects from the Emerging and Diverse Developers Solicitation recommended for HRA awards have a total funding amount of $2,199,500 with all funds coming from unallocated 2025 HRA Levy. Additional projects may be recommended for Statewide Affordable Housing Aid awards in a separate board action in 2026.
Last Previous Action
On December 17, 2024, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners approved the use of HRA Levy to be allocated towards housing development projects by emerging and diverse developers. (Resolution H2024-012).
Attachments
1. Narrative Project Descriptions