St. Paul, MN – Senator Rich Draheim (R- Madison Lake) released the following statement in response to the closure of RentHelpMN:
I am disappointed that Commissioner Jennifer Ho and the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) have been so secretive in announcing the closure of RentHelpMN. As a temporary program with limited funding from the federal government, the Senate knew the program would have an end date. That’s why on December 21st, I sent a bipartisan letter to Commissioner Ho asking her when she planned to close the program and her plans for a RentHelpMN “off-ramp”. I received a response on December 22nd that she’d be “happy to discuss this with [us] in January,”. Nearly a month later, on January 20th she finally responded to the five questions we had initially asked in December. As of five days ago, Commissioner Ho did not know when RentHelpMN would close. Now today, she has announced the agency will stop accepting applications in just four days.
From a shaky rollout to this abrupt closure, Commissioner Ho has mismanaged RentHelpMN every step of the way. A month ago, we could see the program running out of money and the need to have a plan in place that gave adequate notice to Minnesotans. And now, Commissioner Ho has manufactured a crisis that could have been avoided.
Further, Commissioner Ho’s agency has diverted at least $9 million in funds from helping Minnesotans pay rent through RentHelpMN. Minnesotans deserve to have transparency in this process. Instead, Commissioner Ho thought it would be a good idea to shortchange Minnesota renters and housing providers alike.
As we move forward, I encourage Minnesotans who are struggling with housing stability to seek help from existing county, state, and federal programs such as applying for short-term emergency assistance through your county, seeking ongoing help in paying rent by contacting your local public housing agency to access Federal rental assistance, or seeking help through the state-funded Family Homeless Prevention & Assistance Program (FHPAP) by contacting your local program administrator.