Follows hearings in which Gov. Walz’s commissioner fails to explain data discrepancies
St. Paul, MN – Senator Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake) is calling for the Office of the Legislative Auditor to fully audit the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency’s (MHFA) RentHelpMN rental assistance program. This request follows multiple hearings in which Governor Walz’s Housing Commissioner, Jennifer Ho, presented the Senate Housing Committee with inconsistent and incomplete data.
“Unfortunately, after two hearings Commissioner Ho left the Housing Committee with more questions than answers,” said Senator Draheim, who serves as Chairman of the Senate Housing Committee. “The blatant discrepancies in the data are alarming and need to be investigated. Commissioner Ho’s vague explanations did not answer the question of why Governor Tim Walz’s Housing Finance Agency fails to provide the legislature, media, and public with complete and accurate information.”
According to MHFA data:
- RentHelpMN has been allocated $537 million in federal funds (MHFA Slide, pg. 6)
- Commissioner Ho stated in one slide that through February 4th, MHFA had made $374.3 million in rental assistance payments to 48,079 households (MHFA Slide, pg. 12)
- However, in the very next slide, Commissioner Ho presented a graph and chart that showed through January 31st, MHFA had paid out $365.4 million in payments to 57,441 households (MHFA Slide, pg. 13)
- The slides demonstrate a difference of almost $9 million more in rental aid but 9,362 fewer household payments in four days.
Unfortunately, the presentation provided by MHFA in the February 8th Senate Housing Committee hearing follows a pattern of confusing statements and actions by the agency. The State of Minnesota received a total of $537 million from the federal government for the program in two separate payments. Federal guidance indicated up to $65.55 million total could be used for overhead costs to run RentHelpMN, leaving $471.45 million available assistance payments. However, MHFA indicated in the hearing only $450 million was allocated for direct assistance payments, a difference of $21.5 million.
The agency has not directly addressed this decision to reduce the amount available in direct assistance payments, however the federal government does allow for an additional $23.7 million to be used for “housing stability services” which are grants for nonprofits. MHFA has a $9 million request for proposals for “housing stability services”, which is far less than the $23.7 million allowed, and the $21.5 million which might be available. This leaves up to $12.5 million in unallocated funds that MHFA has not addressed.
When asked about discrepancies, Ho said there are “three different types of numbers” and part of her presentation was a “wildly unhelpful slide as written”. However, she failed to fully explain the discrepancies.
Discrepancies in MHFA timeline:
- On December 21st, Senator Draheim authored a bipartisan letter to MHFA Commissioner Ho that not only offered to legislatively aid the agency in “off-ramping” RentHelpMN, but also requested to know when the program would be shut down
- While Senator Draheim awaited a response, the Housing Finance Agency’s communications director publicly stated in the Rochester Post Bulletin on January 18th that RentHelpMN “will likely sunset at the end of the first quarter of this year,” which would be March 31, 2022.
- Two days later, on January 20th, Commissioner Ho notified Senator Draheim in an email that MHFA did not know when RentHelpMN would reach a number of applications that exceeded available assistance
- However, according to a timeline provided by Commissioner Ho in her presentation to the Senate Housing Committee, also on January 20th, MHFA became aware that January would “become the highest month of applications” for RentHelpMN, necessitating an end to the program
- Five days later, on January 25th, MHFA announced RentHelpMN would abruptly close applications on January 28th just 79-hours after their announcement, more than two months prior to the deadline outlined by MHFA in the Rochester Post Bulletin
“The confusing answers and timeline of events from Governor Walz’s Housing Finance Agency points to one thing: we need a full legislative audit of RentHelpMN,” concluded Draheim. “We all share the goal of helping Minnesotans achieve housing stability, however MHFA’s actions call into question their ability to accomplish this. I hope the Office of the Legislative Auditor can provide the legislature and the public the answers they deserve.”