HF4 provides for the use of federal COVID-19 funds for rental and housing assistance. It prohibits the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget (MMB) from using any money received by the state from the Homeowner Assistance Fund under the American Rescue Plan to reimburse the federal coronavirus relief fund for money allocated to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA).
The Senate passed HF4 on June 28, 2021, by a vote of 66 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because this bill permits the spending of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on housing subsidies through unfair, unconstitutional federal programs. Such “affordable housing” initiatives are, in fact, forms of wealth redistribution that violate both equal protection of the laws and the property rights of Americans.