The Met Council funneled nearly $5 million into transit-linked development in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Richfield. The Met Council's latest move is a calculated play to rally around affordable housing and job ops, with the trending Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) as the vehicle.
The grants, dispensed this past December 13, are supposed to not just house people but hustle them closer to work and play. "The Council awards projects of all different types and sizes,” Lisa Barajas, Community Development Executive Director at the Met Council, explained. “What these projects have in common is that they connect people with the places they want to go by providing more housing, businesses, and other neighborhood destinations closer to transit."
The hefty endowment includes a cool $2 million to chisel out 83 units of affordable housing in Minneapolis. The budget also includes the construction of a health clinic, a public plaza, and specialized digs for folks with disabilities or in dire housing straits. Richfield snags a $1 million piece of the action for 38 units aimed at helping neurodiverse young adults and handicapped individuals.
Met Council's TOD grant program covers 75 cities and a single township that has joined the Livable Communities program. Barajas lays it out, saying, "A livable, prosperous, and equitable region depends on the ability of its residents to get to work, school, groceries, and health services, for example."
