Quantifying the Critical Link Between Housing Supply and the Region’s Economic Prosperity
A sufficient supply of housing affordable to households across the income spectrum is critical to supporting a vibrant and sustainable regional economy. There is a significant need for housing in Minnesota and the primary driver of that housing demand is expansion of the employment base in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.
Today, the Twin Cities region competes for workers with cities such as Chicago, Seattle, and Denver, and has an advantage in terms of housing costs and housing availability. But increasingly, the region will compete with Austin, Nashville, and St. Louis, where housing options are more affordable and varied than those in the Twin Cities region. These peer and near-peer regions are more affordable, even after taking into account differences in wages across regions.
This report explores the link between housing affordability and the Twin Cities region’s economic prosperity and estimates the region’s housing need for the next twenty years (2018-2038).
