A highly anticipated piece of political news arrived Tuesday morning as Vice President Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate in November’s presidential election, with Harris having clinched the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
Walz hails from a state that Republicans have not taken in a presidential election since 1972, when Richard Nixon won in a popular and electoral landslide against Sen. George McGovern. But Walz also represents a plain-spoken approach to Democratic Party policy priorities, which has helped carry him to victory in every election he’s participated in since 2006.
$1 billion for housing
While there are individual flourishes in the records of both members of the Democratic ticket, Harris also represents a degree of continuity with the housing policies of the current Biden-Harris administration. Walz could represent a departure, but his record as governor also illustrates some significant housing-related policies designed to address issues present in both his state and the country at large.
While Walz has no shortage of critics among Republicans, most of the consistent critiques that have been levied against him concern the use of the government at scale, tax increases to fund state projects and the way that Walz is using his state’s budget surplus. Some of these criticisms have been levied at housing programs, but the most consistent criticisms have been levied at other statewide spending initiatives.
The largest housing policy event during his administration came in 2023, when Walz signed a $1 billion housing omnibus bill into law. It marked the largest single investment in housing in the state’s history and included $200 million for downpayment assistance programs; another $200 million for housing infrastructure investments; $95 million for a program to support workforce housing; and a permanent fund for other housing needs across the state.
More than half the total amount was geared toward investments in the state’s affordable housing infrastructure.
“Housing is central to growing our workforce and ensuring Minnesotans’ health, safety, and financial security,” Walz said upon signing the measure. “Whether it’s building new housing infrastructure, providing rental assistance, or ensuring homeownership is an option for all Minnesotans, this bill will have a historic impact on the quality of life in Minnesota and move us towards becoming the best state to raise a family.”
The move was lauded by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), and it included several other provisions. The package allocated $45 million to the state’s Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program, which is designed to provide “emergency rental and utility assistance to families experiencing or at risk of homelessness,” NLIHC explained.
Landlord-tenant laws
Around the same time, Walz signed a measure into law that marked a comprehensive update to Minnesota’s landlord and tenant laws, which the NLIHC also said was the first of its kind in state history.
“Landlords will be required to provide 14 days’ written notice before filing an eviction for nonpayment of rent, and cities will be permitted to enact and enforce stronger pre-filing notice requirements,” NLIHC said of the measure. “The bill also makes eviction expungements more accessible in certain cases: when the tenant prevails, when the case is dismissed, when the parties agree to expungement, when the tenant requests expungement upon settlement of the case, or when the eviction was ordered at least three years ago.”
These expungement-reform provisions prohibit evictions from being reported in public court records “until the court decides in favor of the landlord,” while also establishing the right to representation for public housing tenants facing breach-of-lease eviction cases.
Affordable housing
Walz and his lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, also pursued other affordable housing investments. In December 2023, the administration announced an investment of $350 million to preserve and build an estimated 4,700 affordable housing units across the state —including single-family, multifamily and manufactured units.
“Minnesota Housing selected 28 rental properties this year, with 13 located in the Twin Cities metro and 15 in Greater Minnesota,” the governor’s office announced in December. “The multifamily rental selections support a total of 1,486 units. Most of the units will be new construction (875 units) and the rest are preservation of existing affordable properties (611 units).”
These investments came with the recognition of a need to build more units.
“The state needs to build more housing and invest in existing properties to both improve the properties for the current residents and to maintain the affordability of the rental units for decades to come,” Walz’s office said.
In his State of the State address earlier this year, Walz detailed some of the investments that Minnesota has sought to make to address housing issues.
“Our plan also invests in making sure every Minnesotan has a safe and affordable place to call home,” Walz said. “We’re backing the development of multifamily housing so that seniors, families, and anyone facing homelessness can find a place to be. And we want to update the Minneapolis Veterans Home to better serve those who have served us.”
As he wound the speech down, Walz opined that housing is an issue that everybody should be able to agree on regardless of political differences.
“[T]here’s no reason both parties can’t be part of getting it done this session,” Walz said. “I know we won’t agree on everything. But safe streets? Clean water? Affordable housing? Surely we can agree on that. So join me — and not just at the ribbon-cutting, but in the work to get it done.”
