2024 Legislative Wins
Members of Sustain Saint Paul at the capitol, alongside advocates from the Sierra Club and Isaiah
This year, Sustain Saint Paul took action at the Minnesota legislature to advocate for statewide housing and land use reforms. In tandem with a coalition of local organizations focused on housing, climate, and transportation, we advanced meaningful statewide policy and set the groundwork for more statewide housing changes.
Major policy wins
Two major housing and land use wins were passed by the legislature: the “Comprehensive Plan Clarity” bill, and the single-stair study bill.
The Comprehensive Plan Clarity bill clarified that the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA) does not count pro-housing comprehensive plans as environmentally harmful. This bill gives cities the ability to plan for population growth without worrying that they will be subjected to legal challenges under MERA (individual projects in Minnesota will still be subject to the same environmental reviews).
It also provides legal clarity in the current lawsuit against the Minneapolis 2040 Plan. The Minneapolis 2040 Plan, which was a groundbreaking pro-housing effort by our neighbors across the Mississippi River, is now likely to be free from bat-faith lawsuits and continue supporting new housing development in Minneapolis.
Our other major legislative win initiated a study of the statewide building code to explore new rules that will allow taller buildings built with only one stairway. This type of housing, already allowed in Seattle, New York, Hawaii, and many countries across the world, enables more efficient use of space, more family-friendly apartments, and an easier path for new infill housing in urban areas (to learn more about this issue, read Bill Lindeke’s recent MinnPost story on the topic). The results of this study will be delivered in December 2025.
Advancing the conversation and building a coalition
In addition to the successful passage of two bills, this session saw major progress on other housing and land use reforms.
Sustain Saint Paul supported other bills that received hearings in various legislative committees, including efforts to:
End minimum parking mandates
Legalize denser housing throughout the state
Streamline housing approval processes
Allow municipalities to implement a land value tax
These efforts also received substantial media coverage across Minnesota news outlets, further advancing the conversation on making housing more affordable and accessible in Minnesota.
Our engagement with the legislature also helped us join a strong coalition of Minnesota advocates. This coalition included a variety of groups that work on housing, climate, and transportation, who all appreciate the benefits of effective statewide land use policy.
Legislative efforts set to continue next year
2024 wins on Comprehensive Plan Clarity and single-staircase buildings give us reason to celebrate — and reason to feel excited for next year’s efforts.
Sustain Saint Paul participated in building a strong coalition and raising awareness and understanding of the need for statewide land use reforms. Legislators know that housing is one of the most pressing issues for Minnesotans, and have taken some efforts to address this issue. But they know that more policy change is needed. We will continue to push these changes to improve housing conditions for Minnesotans everywhere.
