The Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority had a special board meeting on Tuesday night at the Valley Technology Park in Crookston.
The board passed a resolution opposing the City of Crookston’s proposed dissolution of CHEDA. Resolution 6-1-2021 said the key reasons why they are against dissolving CHEDA are:
1. By statute, CHEDA performs functions and exercises authority not readily available to the City.
2. Dissolution of CHEDA will expose the City to liability for paying back millions of dollars in state and federal aid.
3. Assuming all of CHEDA’s projects and activities will create significantly more work for City staff with little, if any, justifiable financial savings.
4. CHEDA has decades of experience and established relationships that cannot be replaced overnight, removing this long-standing agency will necessarily create a disruption in the housing assistance and business aid citizens have relied on for years.
“The board discussed it and decided unanimously to pass the resolution,” said CHEDA Executive Director Craig Hoiseth. “There was good discussion around the value of CHEDA. What we do, what we don’t do, why the powers are separated from the City according to legislative intent by the State of Minnesota. There was also discussion from the housing authority and most people don’t realize it but over 90 percent of the CHEDA budget is driven on the housing authority side and I certainly want to make sure we take care of residents at Oak Court and all our residents on Section 8.”
There are some things that an EDA can do that a city cannot do, according to Hoiseth. “There are things we can do that statutorily a city cannot not,” said Hoiseth. “From the standpoint of the HRA we want to provide a very seamless transition and in talking with HUD and other officials from the housing sector, there would definitely be a time gap that would occur there.”
The full resolution is below –
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