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Attachment 2 March 31, 2025 Representative David Gottfried th 5 Floor Centennial Office Building St. Paul, MN 55155 RE: City comments on HF 1987/SF 2229 (“Minnesota Starter Home Act”), HF 2140/SF 2231 (“More Homes Right Places Act”) and HF 2018/SF 2286 (“Transforming Main Street Act”) Dear Representative Gottfried: I am writing this letter to express our concern with multiple pieces of legislation known as the Minnesota Starter Home Act, More Homes Right Places Act and Transforming Main Street Act. At our March 24, 2025 City Council meeting, my colleagues and I revisited our previous letter from April 15, 2024 regarding legislation that was known as the Missing Middle Housing bill and collectively find similar concerns with the bills being considered this session. I submit this letter to reaffirm our continued concern with the breadth of the proposed changes these bills will have in our community, the unforeseen outcomes for local governments that could occur if this legislation is adopted, and the level of specificity to which local control is being preempted by these bills. Further, none of these bills guarantee more affordable housing or increased development by itself. As we communicated a year ago, Roseville understands the housing shortage that faces our State and has put considerable efforts, both regulatorily and financially, towards efforts to address housing needs within our City. We are concerned that if these bills pass, they will have unintended consequences on the otherwise thoughtful efforts Roseville has deployed locally, which are based on analysis of local needs and after engagement with community members. oseville has worked very hard in recent years to create more affordable housing and missing R middle housing. A few examples include: Approval of nearly 700 units of affordable apartments over the last several years, Approval of amendments to our Zoning Code to allow two-unit housing types (or missing middle housing) in zoning districts that previously only permitted single family homes, Permitting Accessory Dwelling Units for more than ten years, and Maintaining a Land Trust Partnership program with Habitat for Humanity that has resulted in existing single-family homes being sold with covenants that ensure long-term affordability for families earning 80% of the Area Median Income. The above efforts resulted in considerable financial commitment from the City, engagement with our community, and implementation of our Zoning Code and Comprehensive Plan. If the current bills pass, our thoughtful approach to meeting our community’s housing needs will be threatened and instead, the developer will solely get to determine what gets built and where. Roseville is not opposed to State intervention on a broader scale, but we do object to the rigid approach, prescriptive mandates and lack of flexibility of these bills. 2660 Civic Center Drive • Roseville, MN 55113 www.cityofroseville.com Qbhf!51!pg!2:6