State programs

Bridges

The Bridges Rental Assistance Program provides housing assistance for people with very low incomes and a serious mental illness while they wait for other permanent rental subsidies.

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), manages the Bridges rental assistance programs. The Olmsted County HRA administers the program, which provides rental assistance for people with serious mental illness who are experiencing housing instability.

Admission criteria

  • Head of household must be 18 or older.
  • One adult member has a mental illness.
  • Must be experiencing housing instability.
  • Income is at or below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI).
  • Must not be a registered lifetime sex offender.
  • Must not be convicted of methamphetamine production.

Transitional Rental Assistance Program (TRAP)

TRAP provides temporary rental assistance and housing-related expenses, such as application fees and security deposits, in partnership with supportive services.

Partnership with Minnesota Housing

Minnesota Housing provides funding through the Housing Trust Fund. Rental assistance is provided in partnership with services to help participants achieve housing stability and transition to permanent, sustainable housing opportunities.

Admission criteria

  • Head of household must be 18 years or older.
  • Family must be experiencing homelessness and meet the River Valleys CoC definition of High Priority Homeless.
  • All referrals are received from the local Coordinated Entry System.
  • Gross household income is at or below 60% of Area Median Income (AMI), with priority given to 30% AMI.
  • Must not be a registered lifetime sex offender.
  • Must not be convicted of methamphetamine production.

Partnering for Alternative Tenant Choice Housing (PATCH)

PATCH provides rental assistance to individuals and families with an adult in the household who has a disabling condition and    receives case management services through Olmsted County or a contracted provider.

Partnership with Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS)

PATCH is funded through a cost-neutral transfer from the Minnesota Department of Human Services. PATCH uses funding in different and creative ways to provide affordable housing to more people.

Admission criteria

  • Head of household must be 18 or older.
  • One adult in the household must have a certified disability or disabling condition: mental illness, learning disability, developmental disability, substance use disorder, or physical illness, injury, or impairment.
  • Income is at or below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI).
  • Must not be a registered lifetime sex offender.
  • Must not be convicted of methamphetamine production.

Homework Starts with Home (HWSH)

Homework Starts with Home (HSWH) is a grant program focused on addressing homelessness and housing instability among students and their families. The program serves families with children eligible for a pre-Kindergarten through grade 12 academic program and youth (with or without children of their own) who are eligible for an academic program through grade 12 and who are without their parent or guardian (unaccompanied youth).

HSWH uses the Family Homelessness Prevention and Assistance Program (FHPAP) and the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) rental assistance program guidelines to prevent homelessness whenever possible and if homelessness does occur, to help make sure that it is rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Bring it Home

The Bring It Home Rental Assistance Program, also referred to as “Bring It Home”, is a new program to create rental assistance for low-income families across Minnesota. Funded by state appropriations and a new metro sales tax for housing, the program will provide grants to eligible Program Administrators who will administer the program as direct tenant and/or project-based rental assistance for cost-burdened households at 50% area median income (AMI) or less. Priority for rental assistance shall be given to households earning under 30% AMI that include children.

Admission criteria

  • Maximum household income of 50% AMI, as determined at the time of initial receipt of rental assistance and recertified annually; 
  • Priority for households with children under the age of 18 and annual incomes below 30% AMI