Governor Tim Walz today proposed the state spend 276 million dollars for affordable housing projects across Minnesota as part of the next bonding bill. The governor terms it an historic investment in housing that doubles the size of any previous administration’s bonding proposal. Walz says he wants to make sure all Minnesotans can afford to live in the communities they call home. House Republicans respond if lawmakers want to solve the shortage of affordable housing, real reforms are necessary to bring down the cost of homebuilding. They say state bonding is part of the solution, but there must also be “broad changes to state codes, zoning, land development rules, and other regulations that are driving up costs and making homeownership unaffordable for too many families.”