GMHF is certified by the Department of Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to address the affordable housing needs of Minnesota’s under-served areas including cities, towns, rural areas, and tribal nations. GMHF is rated Four-Star, AA Policy Plus by Aeris and is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines.
Mission
Greater Minnesota Housing Fund (GMHF) supports the creation of strong communities and affordable homes through strategic investments and effective partnerships. GMHF is dedicated to social and racial justice and committed to advancing solutions that support equity for communities of color throughout Minnesota.
Innovation
GMHF advances affordable housing in Greater Minnesota by directly funding affordable housing projects, by providing technical support to local communities and businesses, by linking projects with financial resources, by securing additional resources for affordable housing, and by using research and program development activities to identify new and innovative ways of increasing affordable housing production.
Programs
GMHF’s staff helps lead on key housing issues such as:
- Ending homelessness
- Fostering the development of green housing
- Preparing emerging market households for homeownership, and
- Preserving naturally occurring affordable housing at risk of becoming market-rate
Since 1996 GMHF has developed programs like Building Better Neighborhoods to bring compact development designs to suburban and rural settings, and worked to involve employers in the creation of affordable housing in their communities through the Employer-Assisted Housing program. GMHF works with its partner organizations to develop innovative programs like Minnesota Green Communities to develop and apply energy–efficient standards to all new multifamily developments, and Minnesota Preservation Plus to prevent the loss of Minnesota’s affordable rental housing stock.
GMHF’s most recent programs include:
- Housing & Health Equity Initiative
- Emerging Developers of Color Program
- Small Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) Financing
Impact
Having a roof over one’s head, a safe environment, and a place to call home are the building blocks of a healthy life. Stable homes create a foundation for child development, school achievement, career success, and healthy families. GMHF works with local housing partners to ensure that all communities across Minnesota preserve the affordable housing that already exist in their communities and create new homes when there is a lack and a need.
Housing is a critical part of Minnesota’s economic infrastructure, as important as schools, roads and bridges. Investments in housing revitalize their surrounding neighborhoods and spur reinvestment in their communities.
In GMHF’s 2022-2025 Strategic plan — prepared in 2021 — the organization’s leadership and board identified that by 2025, GMHF will invest an additional approximately $450M of new capital, and mobilize over $1.5B in impact capital in Minnesota’s affordable housing markets.
GMHF provides affordable housing pre-development, acquisition, construction, bridge and longer-term amortizing permanent loans for tax increment financing and first mortgage financing.
In addition to its development loan fund, GMHF operates two specialty funds:
- Minnesota Equity Fund (MEF) is a nonprofit subsidiary of GMHF, and is an equity investment vehicle for socially motivated investors to finance affordable housing. MEF has provided over $113 million in social equity for 25 tax credit developments, creating 1,115 affordable homes.
- The NOAH Impact Fund helps preserve the affordability of naturally occurring affordable housing for low-income working families and seniors.
What’s A CDFI?
See the impact of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in “Opportunity Multiplied”
produced by the Opportunity Finance Network:
Assistance
GMHF funds are used to finance the purchase, rehabilitation, or new construction of affordable single-family homes and rental units; provide technical assistance and useful research for communities in developing affordable housing and neighborhoods; and provide training and counseling for first-time homebuyers through local community organizations.
GMHF works with affordable housing partners across Minnesota. GMHF does not provide unsolicited grants or financing directly homeowners.
If you are a homeowner looking for an affordable mortgage, visit Minnesota Housing online to find a lender in your area.
If you are homeowner facing foreclosure, visit Minnesota Homeownership Center to find a foreclosure prevention counselor.
Projects
Projects supported by GMHF provide affordable housing options for families and individuals in Greater Minnesota — from young people just getting started in life and parents working to support their children, to new immigrants, multi-generational households and the homeless.
History
GMHF was launched in April 1996 in a joint effort of The McKnight Foundation and Blandin Foundation to address the urgent need for decent, affordable housing in Greater Minnesota. Today GMHF works in all 87 counties of the state.
Equal Opportunity
GMHF is an equal opportunity employer and program provider.
No one will be denied the opportunity to participate in GMHF’s programs, employment, or promotion, based on race, color, creed, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, age, religion, national origin, sex, or membership in a local human rights commission.
