During the 2025 legislative session, Neighbors for More Neighbors worked closely with other members of the Yes to Homes coalition to advocate for policies that allowed for more abundant housing to be built across the state of Minnesota. While the outcomes of the legislative session were not what we had hoped to see, we were able to build power and are prepared to continue to advocate next session for meaningful reforms in order to address the 100,000 homes short across the state of Minnesota.

A Growing Coalition

Central to the work that Neighbors for More Neighbors does at the Capitol, is our partnership with the Yes to Homes Coalition. This year, we saw the coalition grow and strengthen its collective identity. We have representation from across the political spectrum. Coalition members include environmental groups, labor unions, housing-focused organizations, faith-based organizations, and many others. By working together, we have a stronger voice and our message can reach more lawmakers and Minnesotans.

Strong Legislative Champions

This legislative session, we were fortunate to have numerous strong legislative champions, both Democrats and Republicans, who authored and championed our priority bills. These included Sen. Lindsey Port, Rep. Michael Howard, Rep. Spencer Igo, Rep. Larry Kraft, Sen. Doron Clark, Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, Rep. Aisha Gomez, Sen. Liz Bolden, Rep. Kozwalski, Rep. Lucille “Lucy” Rehm, Rep. Steve Elkins, Rep. Jim Nash, Sen. Omar Fateh, Rep. Kari Rehrauer.

These lawmakers took political risks to support our bills and worked to find creative ways to get our bills across the finish line. While we were not ultimately successful this year, we are thankful for these persistent champions and look forward to working together next year.

Hearings for Key Bills

We are grateful that several bills that we supported this legislative session got hearings in both the House and Senate. These included bills to enable more transit oriented development, limit or eliminate parking minimums, and allow more flexibility to build townhomes, duplexes, and triplexes. Several of these bills were able to pass out of the housing committees with strong bipartisan support. To dig deeper into our Policy Priorities, click here.

Unfortunately, the state and local government committees in the House and Senate continued to present a roadblock to our legislative priorities. In the Senate State and Local Government Committee, a compromise bill that included several provisions we supported, failed by only one vote. While this was not the result we hoped for, the hearing offered us a chance to show the strength of our coalition. Dozens of our supporters showed up at the capitol, did floor pulls with over a dozen lawmakers during the hearing, and then attended the hearing in person. Numerous people from across our coalition testified in-person or in writing for our bill, and countless others watched online.

Strong Volunteer Involvement

Our incredible volunteers showed up this session and got involved with our work at the capitol in big ways. We are grateful for your efforts and want to celebrate both the ways folks showed up and all the skill building we did as a collective this year, which will benefit our movement for years to come. This included:

600+ different volunteers engaged in our work over the last 6 months
561 actions taken on 11 action alerts volunteers created
57 Instagram posts created to share information and provide education
24 active State Policy Task Force members
21 constituent legislator meetings completed by teams of volunteers
20 Letters to the Editor submitted and 10 published
19 volunteers trained to speak to their legislator at a member social
17 N4MN volunteers attended the Yes to Homes! Hearing Day
16 volunteer prep trainings held for legislative and city council meetings
15 times volunteer teams did floor pulls at the capitol
11 volunteers remotely tracked city engagement with Yes to Homes package
9 volunteer teams met with their city council members
8 one-pagers created, online policy hub and educational materials shared
5 volunteers spoke at 4 different suburban city councils meetings
3 committee hearings attended by a group of volunteers

Additional Bills We Supported

This year, we supported several other provisions that advanced housing abundance and justice across our state. These included an effort to allow for municipalities to utilize land value taxes in order to spur construction on underutilized properties. We also partnered with housing justice groups like Homeline and The Alliance, to support efforts that would ensure that tenants can only be evicted if Just Cause is established, and provisions that would prevent landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income. While none of these measures were able to pass this year, we will continue to advocate for them in future sessions.

Grieving Political Violence

Shortly after the legislative session ended, our state was rocked by a senseless act of political violence. Neighbors for More Neighbors joins countless others in mourning the deaths of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. We also continue to keep Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in our thoughts as they recover from their injuries.

Coming Back Stronger Next Year

As we look ahead to the next legislative session, we are prepared to continue to advocate for policies that make having a place to call home more accessible and affordable for all Minnesotans. We will spend the coming months strategizing, growing our coalition and meeting with lawmakers. We hope you will consider joining us in this important work.

Contact Angela at n4mnstatepolicytaskforce@gmail.com to join us in this work.

2025 Neighbors for More Neighbors Legislative Session Recap