Klobuchar says she’ll put Minnesota on track to build 100,000 new homes if elected

Sen. Amy Klobuchar committed to putting Minnesota “on a path to build” at least 100,000 new homes if she’s elected governor in November. 

Klobuchar announced the policy goal and a slew of housing affordability plans at a press conference Monday in Columbia Heights, on the front lawn of a single-story house belonging to first-time homeowners. 

Klobuchar, who recently won the Democratic-Farmer-Labor endorsement, summarized her housing plan: “Build more homes, including in rural communities, stop rip-offs by out of state companies and make it easier for Minnesotans to afford a home.” 

According to the most updated Census estimates, Minnesota’s housing growth slowed in 2025, and lagged nationwide housing growth from 2024 to 2025. Economists and housing experts say high housing costs are driven by a shortage of supply.  

Klobuchar said she plans to cut red tape around construction, such as by standardizing the permitting application process, which doesn’t necessarily require legislative approval. On a more contentious issue, however, she did not commit to forcing local governments to allow more housing development through statewide zoning changes, like mandating that cities allow apartments near commercial districts. A bipartisan coalition of housing advocates has for years sought to force changes to restrictive local zoning codes at the Legislature, but the influential local government lobby has successfully beat back the efforts. 

She instead proposed “a Minnesota pro-housing incentive” for cities and townships that build more housing. 

Near the front lawn where Klobuchar spoke, the quiet residential street was conspicuously lined with at least 20 parked cars belonging to journalists and campaign staffers. Two passing cars, driving in opposite directions, bumped into each other next to a parked RAM pickup truck that transported Klobuchar’s podium. 

Two men got out of the cars and yelled at each other for a minute — during which they both said they lived in the neighborhood — before driving away. 

Apart from the altercation, the press conference went without interruption. Klobuchar also said she wants to make permanent the state housing tax credit, which provides incentives for private investment in housing; launch a low-interest revolving loan fund for rural developers; protect manufactured home owners from exploitative practices by corporate owners; and ban price-fixing algorithms, which companies use to coordinate rents. 

A school bus slowed as it passed the press conference, giving its elementary school-aged passengers a view of Klobuchar, who is favored to be the next governor, and the state’s first female governor. 

Republicans endorsed former healthcare executive and Army veteran Kendall Qualls for governor at their recent state convention, though House Speaker Lisa Demuth and pillow mogul Mike Lindell are also running for the nomination, to be decided on Primary Election Day, Aug. 11. 

Klobuchar alluded to the crowded Republican primary when asked about how her housing policies differ from her opponents: “I have a number of them, so it’s hard to pick out all of their policies, and I look forward to that in the fall when we know who my opponent is.” 

Klobuchar framed her housing proposals as variations on ideas that have been proposed in the Legislature with bipartisan support. 

“We just need to find the will to get them done and see them through,” she said. 

The bipartisan coalition of legislators and housing advocates have, for three years in a row, pushed for low-to-no-cost statewide zoning reform in hopes of decreasing regulatory barriers and zoning rules like minimum lot sizes that tend to restrict building. 

It again failed to pass this year, though Minnesota lawmakers passed a housing bill in the 2026 session that includes $100 million in bonds for the maintenance and development of affordable housing, which is expected to result in more than 2,000 homes. 

Klobuchar said that she wants to work with local governments, using more of a carrot than stick approach, including incentives to build more multifamily homes. Rather than mandating that they upzone to allow for more multifamily development. 

“It may come down to requiring” them to build more multifamily homes — “but I’m starting fresh,” she said. 

She said her running mate Ben Schierer, the former mayor of Fergus Falls, will be able to work with city leaders: “If we have an issue with the city, well then, we have our mayor here (to) work out every problem with every city,” she said, laughing.