Affordable housing is necessary and can be a benefit to a community.

 

That was the message presented by Brad Tabke at a Sherburne County Community Partners meeting Wednesday at the Sherburne History Center.

 

About 30 community stakeholders attended the meeting to listen to three guest speakers talk about different aspects of economic development.

 

Tabke is the former mayor of Shakopee and recently formed his own economic development firm, Grepoli. 

 

He said he makes presentations to business groups, city councils, EDAs and chambers of commerce to help them understand why affordable housing is important.

 

Wednesday, he started with some statistics about affordability. He said between 2000 and 2011, the poverty rate in the suburban Metro area grew 64%, and 69% of those households had at least one member working.

 

 He said 50% of jobs in greater MSP don’t pay enough for a family to afford a two bedroom house, and of all housing being built in the area, only 18% is considered affordable.

 

Tabke said affordable housing isn’t low income housing, subsidized housing ot Section 8 housing.

 

“It’s for teachers, police officers, people who work in our city halls, anyone with an entry level job in retail and manufacturing,” he said.

 

He said unemployment in Sherburne County is 3.4% and is near 4% in the rest of the area.

 

“There are not many workers out there today. Businesses across Minnesota are feeling the pinch of a tighter labor force,” he said. “Baby boomers keep retiring and there aren’t enough workers in the region now, so it is really important that we have local affordable housing in every community.”

 

Tabke said a big issue with affordable housing is the stigma that it increases crime and poverty in a community. He said that isn’t the case.

 

He talked about an affordable housing project in Savage in Scott County where  people had to be escorted from city hall during discussions about the project.

 

But the project went through, with no increase in crime or poverty.

 

Tabke compared two developments in Savage, each on 3.73 acres. The first development, which  had 11 single family homes, brought in $49,976 in total taxes and $17,379 in taxes to the city.

 

The affordable housing development, which has 68 units, brought in $69,708 in total taxes and $24,246 in taxes to the city.

 

He said affordable housing project have a much better return than single family homes.

 

He offered more statistics from a study done by the Metropolitan Council. Between now and 2040, there will be 367,000 more households in the metro area and 40% will earn less than 80% of the area median income of $65,800.

 

He said those workers and families will need to have a place to live, and building single family homes that cost $300,000 to $500,000 won’t provide the solution.

 

He said by 2030, there will be more baby boomers trying to sell their single family homes than there will be millennials trying to buy them - because of the cost.

 

“So as you’re planning for the future, you need to be thinking about that dynamic,” he said. “As you’re building more residential in your communities, try to meet the need of the business leaders and the jobs that will be required.”

 

He said communities are willing to allow developments with single family homes. But at some point, if those communities want their workforce to live and stay in their communities, housing will have to be affordable.

 

He said the average new college graduate can’t qualify for a mortgage because they often carry too much student loan debt. But they have to live somewhere. 

 

 “If your businesses want to have employees that stay with them and in the communities, you need to have affordable housing,” said Tabke.

 

 He said affordable housing is typically a political “hot potato” because it’s usually a housing advocate from outside the community that brings the issue before a city council.

 

“They get the feeling that people are coming in from the outside, trying to force them to build affordable housing,” he said.

 

He said that’s why it’s important for local businesses to step up and talk to their political leaders and city planners about how important affordable housing is to their future.