WC Minnesota News

State Senate Republicans introduced a new plan they are coining “Legalize the American Dream," which includes housing regulation reform and reduced building fees, a response to the current state of the housing market.

“There isn’t a single, silver bullet to open up the housing market for Minnesotans,” said Sen. Rich Draheim in a release by the Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus. “Really what we’re trying to do here is ‘Legalize the America Dream’ so home builders can build toward market needs, buyers can find what they want, and our economy can keep growing.”

The Republican-driven package of bills cover a wide range of issues with building codes, zoning codes and permitting fees, according to reports.

“We’ve done a lot of work to understand the regulatory cost of codes for homes ownership,” said Sen. Bill Weber. “We understand we can’t get rid of every rule and regulation, but at the end of the day, we need to make sure consumers are not paying additional money just to help local budgets out. At the end of the day, our goal is to make more homes available to more people. If we really are concerned for one Minnesota, we need one affordable Minnesota.”