Minnesota is preserving project-based rental assistance and losing very few units with this assistance. Between 2019 and 2020, the state lost approximately 100 units. The 2024 increase is attributable to 4,463 units being transferred to the portfolio. Most of these units are in properties that converted from public housing to project-based rental assistance through HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. This is not an increase in the number of units with rental assistance but a transfer from one program to another. 

Units with project-based rental assistance have federally funded housing subsidies that allow residents to pay rent that is no more than 30% of their income. These units are some of Minnesota’s most affordable housing. Renewing federal contracts for these units is critical to providing ongoing assistance for the unit’s low-income residents.

This metric captures the number of project-based Section 8 units for which Minnesota Housing manages the rental assistance contract on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).