Our Future Starts At Home Coalition joins Community-Led Housing Town Hall in Mankato

MANKATO – Representative Jeff Brand, Mankato Mayor Najwa Massad, and Saint Peter City Council Member Keri Johnson will join housing advocates, leaders, Mankato residents who have experienced housing insecurity, and neighbors to discuss strategies to improve our housing system and build momentum for statewide housing solutions. Our Future Starts At Home is driving the movement for an amendment to the Minnesota State Constitution to dedicate sustainable, predictable, and ongoing funding to real solutions to our housing crisis. The Coalition has been engaging with Minnesotans throughout our state, has received the endorsement of over 50 housing, faith, and community organizations, and has 27 authors in the Minnesota Legislature.

Minnesotans, no matter what we look like or where we come from, should all have a safe, stable place to call home. One in every four Minnesota families– a figure even higher in Mankato with nearly 8,000 residents of Blue Earth County alone– are forced to choose between paying for a roof over their heads and other basic needs like food and medicine. While significant, this crisis is solvable. The Mankato Area Housing Town Hall will bring together critical stakeholders to explore the issues, realities, and remedies.

This event is co-hosted by The Arc of MinnesotaHabitat for Humanity of South Central MinnesotaSouthwest Minnesota Housing Partnership, and the statewide Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP).

WHO: Representative Jeff Brand, Mankato Mayor Najwa Massad, Saint Peter City Council Member Keri Johnson, Our Future Starts At Home Coalition

WHERE: Blue Earth County Historical Society, 424 Warren St, Mankato, MN 56001

WHAT: Mankato Area Housing Town Hall

WHEN: Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 5:30pm

Our Future Starts at Home is a coalition of over 50 housing, faith, and community groups across the state fighting for securing sustainable, predictable, and ongoing funding—an essential part of fixing Minnesota’s broken housing system. For more information, please visit www.OurHomesMN.org

Habitat, receives a $15,000 grant from Wells Fargo to expand access to affordable homes in St Peter.

The Wells Fargo Foundation has awarded $15,000 in grants to Habitat South Central Minnesota to build a  home in St Peter. South Central MN is one of more than 230 Habitat for Humanity affiliates awarded grant funding nationwide through the 2023 Wells Fargo Builds program to help more low to moderate income families access affordable homes.

The grant to Habitat South Central MN along with the support of Wells Fargo volunteers will help build a home for a St Peter family.

On September 20th, Wells Fargo volunteers joined us on-site to help the family build their future home.

At least one in 3 households in South Central MN spend over 30% of their income on housing and the number of St Peter families who are struggling to afford rent is on the rise. This is why Wells Fargo funding is critical.

This funding is part of a $7.5 million donation to Habitat for Humanity International through the 2023 Wells Fargo Builds program to build and repair more than 350 affordable homes nationwide.