Beefing up the city's stock of affordable housing is the big focus of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's 1.5 billion dollar budget for 2019.
In his first budget address to the City Council today, Frey proposed spending a record 40-million dollars to build more affordable housing units, help make it easier to buy a house and preserve existing lower-income rentals.
"That's more than triple any previous city investment in affordable housing and indeed is one of the highest per capita investments for any municipality in the entire nation," Frey told council members.
Frey says time is of the essence.
'The old cliche is 'Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today.' The reality is that we can't put off affordable housing investments until tomorrow, because tomorrow is too damn late."
Frey is also proposing infrastructure improvements like concrete streets and a modernized sewer system, as well as more spending on police and fire services, and initiatives that he says will help make the city more nimble and responsive to its residents. Frey's budget includes a 5-point-63 percent increase in the city's property tax levy for homeowners.