# Livable Communities Act *Metropolitan Council program whose funding eligibility depends on local land guidance toward affordable housing goals.* The **Livable Communities Act** (LCA) is a Minnesota program. Its funding is administered by the [[Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)]].[^1] Under a methodology the Council publishes for 2021–2030, the program is tied to an affordable housing goal set for each community.[^3] The Council's own publication calls those goals "an aspirational but achievable commitment" that reflect "what is possible, not necessarily what is needed."[^2] The same publication places them outside comprehensive plan requirements and the [[Metropolitan Land Planning Act]].[^2] A separate Council document, the adopted amendment to its 2040 Housing Policy Plan, sets a regional 2021–2030 need of 37,900 units.[^1] That amendment makes a community's eligibility for LCA funding depend on guiding enough land to meet its share of that need.[^1] Both documents are Council publications on the same program. The record shows both and does not show the Council reconciling them.[^1][^2] The at-issue record also reports completion rates for four suburbs in its Dakota package. Those rates range from 20.8 percent in Apple Valley to 92.5 percent in Burnsville.[^2] ## What The LCA's affordable housing goals are set community by community under the Council's 2021–2030 goals methodology.[^3] The Council's goals publication describes the goals as "an aspirational but achievable commitment."[^2] It also says they reflect "what is possible, not necessarily what is needed."[^2] By the same publication, the goals are expressly not part of comprehensive plan requirements or of the Metropolitan Land Planning Act.[^2] The Dakota package's at-issue pair reads this as making the region's affordable housing goal unenforceable by the agency's own account.[^2] ## How The adopted amendment to the 2040 Housing Policy Plan attaches a consequence to a community's assigned share of regional affordable housing need.[^1] A community that fails to guide adequate land for that share "will be considered inconsistent with Council policy and therefore will not be eligible to participate in, and receive funding from, the Livable Communities Act programs."[^1] The documented consequence of not guiding the land is therefore loss of eligibility for LCA funding.[^1] The Carver package's at-issue pair adds that the allocation is assigned by an appointed body. It also states that the penalty for declining the allocation is money.[^1] ## How much The 2021–2030 LCA methodology sets the low end of each community's affordable housing goal at 55 percent of forecasted need.[^3] The Council gives its reason: "there is not sufficient funding available to meet the forecasted affordable housing need."[^3] As the Dakota package's at-issue pair records, the low end of the goal follows from anticipated funding rather than from the forecasted need figure.[^3] The record assembled here contains no dollar figures for LCA appropriations or awards.[^3] ## How many The adopted amendment to the 2040 Housing Policy Plan puts regional affordable housing need for 2021–2030 at 37,900 units.[^1] The Dakota package's at-issue record draws on an analysis source and on Council publications. It reports the following completion figures:[^2] - [[Apple Valley]] completed 20.8 percent of its 2010 LCA goal of 5,046 units.[^2] - [[Lakeville]] completed 29.1 percent of its 5,227-unit goal. The record states that Lakeville has the largest affordable housing need number of any suburb in the region.[^2] - [[Burnsville]] completed 92.5 percent of a goal the record describes as one-fifth the size.[^2] - [[Farmington]] added 25 new units against a 492-unit allocation in the three years before the review the record cites.[^2] The record gives these completion rates and goal sizes. It does not establish a cause for the differences between communities.[^2] ## In the at-issue record - **AI-Carver-064 (Carver package):** sets the plan amendment's eligibility condition beside two statements: that the allocation is assigned by an appointed body, and that the penalty for declining it is funding.[^1] Its anchor document is a March 2025 presidential action.[^4] - **AI-Dakota-061 (Dakota package):** quotes the Council describing the goals as aspirational and outside comprehensive plan requirements and the Metropolitan Land Planning Act.[^2] Its anchor is a January 2025 presidential action.[^5] - **AI-Dakota-062 (Dakota package):** states that the 55 percent low end of each goal is derived from anticipated funding.[^3] Its anchor is the March 2025 action.[^4] - **AI-Dakota-063 (Dakota package):** gives completion figures for Apple Valley, Lakeville, Burnsville and Farmington against goal size.[^2] Its anchor is the January 2025 action.[^5] ## Notes [^1]: Metropolitan Council, *Adopted amendment to the 2040 Housing Policy Plan* (undated in pack) — establishes the regional affordable housing need for 2021–2030 of 37,900 units, and that communities failing to guide adequate land are ineligible to participate in and receive funding from LCA programs. https://metrocouncil.org/Housing/Publications-And-Resources/HOUSING-POLICY-PLANS-REPORTS/HOUSING-POLICY-PLAN-2040/Adopted-amendment-to-the-2040-Housing-Policy-Plan.aspx [^2]: Metropolitan Council, *Livable Communities Act goals* (undated in pack) — the Council's description of LCA goals as aspirational and outside comprehensive plan requirements and the Metropolitan Land Planning Act; listed (entry E-D5) among the Dakota package's sources for LCA goals. https://metrocouncil.org/Housing/Planning/Affordable-Housing-Measures/Livable-Communities-Act-GOALS.aspx [^3]: Metropolitan Council, *2021–30 Goals Methodology* (undated in pack) — establishes the low end of each community's goal at 55 percent of forecasted need, and the Council's statement on insufficient funding. https://metrocouncil.org/Communities/Services/Livable-Communities-Grants/LCA/2021-30-Goals-Methodology.aspx [^4]: The White House, *Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse* (March 2025) — presidential action cited as the anchor document for at-issue pairs AI-Carver-064 and AI-Dakota-062. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/ [^5]: The White House, *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity* (January 2025) — presidential action cited as the anchor document for at-issue pairs AI-Dakota-061 and AI-Dakota-063. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/