Beltrami Co. Board Approves Development of Housing Trust Fund Ordinance

Beltrami County is continuing work to prevent homelessness for children and young adults, with the latest development at Tuesday’s board meeting being the approval of a housing trust fund ordinance.

With over $700,000 in the first year from the Minnesota Department of Human Services to spend, the county department of Health and Human Services is considering a housing trust fund as one of the options. Creating a trust fund would look to spur development of low-to-medium income housing stock. The main goal for the county is to assist in creating more housing options for its citizens.

“We really want a lasting piece of our community, rather than – it’s easy enough to spend money by doing rental assistance and those types of things, but again, even that would be a challenge, because we don’t have enough housing in our community, anywhere in the county, not just here but anywhere,” said Jeffrey Lind, Beltrami County Social Services Division Director.

The board unanimously approved the development of an ordinance for the housing trust fund. By putting the dollars in a housing trust fund, this action would be considering “spending” the fund by the deadline of January 1, 2025.