SF2298 is a large housing bill that sets the 2026-27 budget for the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, and makes broad changes to state housing laws and programs. It appropriates about $101.1 million in FY 2026 and $82.8 million in FY 2027 for programs such as the Challenge Program, workforce and homeownership initiatives, manufactured-home-park infrastructure, rental assistance, housing trust funds, homeless prevention, home-ownership aid, and rehab of owner-occupied and rental housing. The bill adjusts earlier community-stabilization and local housing trust fund appropriations, revises how rent assistance is targeted and administered, expands eligible recipients under the Challenge Program, and modifies the first-generation homebuyers down-payment pilot. It authorizes an additional $50 million in housing infrastructure bonds, updates several landlord-tenant provisions (including repair, heat, privacy, and rent-escrow rules), tightens rules around manufactured-home park closures and relocation payments, and streamlines the removal of racially restrictive covenants from property titles. It also adds new reporting and planning requirements on preserving affordable housing, tracks the agency’s asset and accessible-housing portfolio, and addresses federal “repositioning” of public housing, and allows limited use of a specific prevailing-wage rate for certain low-income housing tax-credit projects.
The Minnesota State House of Representatives passed SF2298 on May 18, 2025 by a vote of 108 to 26. We have assigned pluses to the nays because this bill dramatically expands state intervention in the housing market through new spending, subsidies, regulations, and bonding authority. SF2298 grows bureaucracy and encourages long-term dependence on government rather than private, voluntary solutions. Additionally, the bill's provisions further entrench state control while undermining property rights, economic freedom, and the free market’s ability to meet housing needs. Instead of reducing barriers and limiting government to its rightful role, SF2298 advances a centralized housing agenda that burdens taxpayers and weakens personal responsibility.
