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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — OCTOBER 27, 2025 9 Community Development Director Reilly provided the projected supply of new homes from Metropolitan Council showing what is required to house the people who already live here. The region is short 120,000 units to meet the goal of 2030. We are currently looking at 2040. Councilmember Monson said this data shows we need more units, but per the presentation, no one is building the type of inventory that we need. Is the City even able to close that gap? We can make policies, but is that enough to incentivize the missing middle development? Community Development Director Reilly said there will be another conversation for this and he will bring answers to that question to the next discussion. The information will be based on the Federal Reserve Bank's evaluation of the Minneapolis 2040 plan and how eliminating single family housing, as a choice for each individual lot for a builder to build on has increased supply. If the supply increases, everyone else's cost goes down. The fundamental answer to the question is yes. There are a lot of things the City can do that don't cost us any money and will generate more supply. Councilmember Monson understands the desire for more units but not everyone wants to live in a large apartment complex. Community Development Director Reilly said if the goal is more supply then we know we can open up options. It may mean some leg work by City Staff to solicit what we need from the people who can provide that product. Community Development Director Reilly shared a graphic showing the housing inventory based on the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year numbers. These are the numbers that are in the System Statement that was issued to the City of Arden Hills from the Mertropolian Council. He said there is a housing study that is associated with Rice Creek Commons. That identifies most of the homes as being greater than 1,500 square feet, meaning they are move -up homes or second homes. Councilmember Monson asked for confirmation that Rice Creek Commons will be mostly move -up homes. Community Development Director Reilly said no. There is a study associated with TCAAP from 2015. That identifies what is in the surrounding area of Arden Hills. Community Development Director Reilly shared graphics that show the affordable homes available as of 2018 in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. He shared a graphic that identifies what is a starter home, what's an apartment and what's aging in place vs. aging in community. There isn't a lot of places to downsize and there is a limited supply of single -level, single-family homes. The smaller homes would be of interest to young families. The school district relies on those families to be successful. He said these are all of the things that are free, other than Staff and consultant time, to help increase the supply of homes. It doesn't matter how affordable the homes are. Just having more places to live makes everyone pay less overall. Community Development Director Reilly shared some of the things we can do that have some potential cost to taxpayers. Staff could go out and talk to people about how to make our existing and new housing stock more affordable. Surrounding communities are using some of these. Land