County adopts housing trust fund

The Carlton County board on Tuesday unanimously adopted a housing trust fund, following a public hearing and presentation by Mary Finnegan, executive director of Carlton County Economic Development.

The trust fund will be used to offer loans and grants for low-income homebuyers. No residents or other speakers addressed the board during the hearing.

“So, basically what the housing trust fund is being established for is workforce housing,” Finnegan said. “Workforce housing can best be described as housing for all those people who are providing us services, such as home health care aides, teachers aides and all the individuals who do such very important work, but may not be paid at a level where they are able to access workforce housing.”

Carlton County is 715 units short of workforce housing, Finnegan told the board.

The fund will begin with $200,000 in housing support received from the state last year, with another $150,000 coming next year. No levy dollars will be used in the fund unless approved by the county board.

Last year, the state legislature agreed to make $2 billion in housing funds available, much of it to rural Minnesota. The county created the housing trust fund in order to have a place to capture funds. The Pine Knot previously examined the trust fund and housing in Carlton County in a December story.