2010 MN Housing Measures report

In 2007, after 25 years and more than $200 million in grants and investments and 36,000 units produced, The McKnight Foundation board reviewed and renewed its commitment to the affordable housing program. In doing so, McKnight spent nearly two years reviewing funding; listening to key partners; learning best practices; exploring design, planning, and barriers to development to set up the next generation of their commitment. This resulted in the McKnight board’s endorsement of three key goals that focus and guide their work in affordable housing.

Public Will: We will strive to increase public acceptance of and support for affordable housing as a community asset rather than a liability.

Innovation & Design: We will promote innovation and quality design that is good for people, places, and the environment.  Housing that looks great, is located wisely, and is “green.”

Increased Preservation & Production: We will strive to accelerate the pace of affordable housing preservation, production, and permanency.

An evaluation framework was developed to foster mutual accountability for results between McKnight and its partners for the goals of the affordable housing program. The baselines and outcome measures were developed over a six-month iterative process of sharing and learning. Key partners and data experts were consulted to review and improve the framework and determine how to best capture progress towards the McKnight goals, as well as provide useful information for the affordable housing field.

HousingLink was commissioned to establish quantitative baseline measures in seven areas, with a plan to trend information over time to track progress towards short- and long-term outcomes. In our 2010 Minnesota Housing Measures, we review four years of trended data in affordable housing, noting evidence of new strategies and "systems change" in response to a particularly challenging period in the history of our state's housing market.

Read the full report here.

For questions about the McKnight Affordable Housing Baseline Measurement, please contact our Research Manager, Dan Hylton at (612) 522-2500 (ext. 222)