Housing Hurdles Carver County: Addressing Barriers to Development of Affordable Housing

Abstract

This project was completed as part of a year-long partnership between Carver County and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). Carver County contracted with Maxfield Research to complete a comprehensive housing needs assessment, which assessed the market supply for senior housing, workforce housing, and housing for homeless populations. Although Maxfield identified a clear need for affordable housing throughout the county, many market and regulatory barriers make it difficult to develop such housing. The goal of this project was to identifying strategies to assist in the development and preservation of affordable housing. In collaboration with project leads Brenda Lano and Allison Streich from the Carver County CDA, a team of students in PA 5261: Housing Policy, identified regulatory tools and policy choices, both traditional and unconventional, that can create and preserve affordable housing in Carver County. The students' final report from the project is available.