To the editor:
Whether renting or owning, the cost of housing continues to sharply rise. Ensuring stability in housing is so important because stable housing (or lack thereof) directly impacts nearly every other sphere of our lives. As the Republican Lead on the Senate Housing Committee, one of the priorities I’ve been fighting for this legislative session is solving the root cause of rising prices to bring stability back to housing.
Minnesota is short 80,000 – 100,000 housing units, (i.e., homes of all types). Unfortunately, the Democrat majority in the Senate Housing Committee recently passed their omnibus bill which does little to address the root cause of high housing costs or increase the supply through construction of new housing. Instead of removing government barriers, slashing burdensome over-regulation, and rolling back government overreach, the Democrat majority is simply throwing more than $1 billion in tax surplus dollars at subsidizing high rent, providing down payment assistance to targeted groups, and more through new or existing government programs. These actions will NOT solve the housing crisis long term.
If the lack of solutions in the Democrat bill were not bad, Democrats are demanding even more taxpayer money. The Democrat Housing bill initially included a new metro-area sales tax to funnel to government housing programs around the state. The Housing Chair removed the sales tax hike provision but signaled a plan of re-introducing the provision in the near future – perhaps the same tax increase, but expanded to encompass the entire state.
In a time of record tax surplus, Democrats are demanding even more of your hard-earned tax dollars. It is nothing short of absolutely outrageous. Democrats owe it to hardworking Minnesotans to abandon their demands for tax increases and misguided spending proposals and instead finally put real effort into fixing the root causes of our housing crisis.
Sincerely,
State Senator
District 30