HRA focuses on maintaining project momentum

The Cook County Housing Redevelopment Authority (HRA) Board held its monthly meeting on May 20. The commissioners discussed the 2027 budget request, ongoing HRA projects, and funding from the state legislature for housing projects.

2027 Budgetting

Ahead of county budget planning, which will likely begin this summer, organizations like the HRA, which receive some funding through the county, evaluate their past budgets, current costs, and anticipated needs.

“We’re in a situation where we’re doing more stuff than we’ve ever done before, and so you know the growing pains are real,” said HRA Executive Director Jeff Brand. He added, however, “We understand that budgets are tight, we understand what’s going on with the economy nationwide, some things are just beyond our control.”

With that in mind, the HRA has opted to adjust their budget in an attempt to keep up with rising costs, but Brand said that the organization is aiming to keep their momentum going, with out adding more items to the budget request they will submit to the county board.

Workforce Housing

The HRA has been working alongside the City of Grand Marais and the Grand Marais/Cook County Economic Development Authority (EDA) on a 16- unit workforce housing project.  The site for the proposed project is at 1800 W Highway 61, next to the WTIP studio and in front of a City of Grand Marais public works building. The parcel is a vacant lot, but was previously the site of the Tomteboda Motel.

About a year ago, the project was awarded $1.3 million in funding by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency. In order to use the granted funds, the project must be completed by January of 2028. While the City Council first saw design plans from Duval Companies in 2024, the project remains in the planning phase. At the May HRA meeting, the board voted to move forward with pursuing survey work for future development.

“We either subsidize pre-development costs to the developer or we do it ourselves,” Brand explained. “So this is kind of a get out and push kind of an approach, and so we’re going to plot those boundary lines in the next month, month and a half, and keep moving forward on on the development.”

Senior Housing study

Earlier this year the HRA hired consultants Wipfli to conduct a study focused on the housing needs of senior citizens in the community. This includes a range of housing options, from down-sized accessible homes to assisted living and nursing home care. Brand said that before the HRA pursues projects or developers to try to create more housing for aging residents, it is important to know the extent of the needs within the continuum of housing and care. He said that he expects to get preliminary information from the consultants in June, with a presentation by Wipfli to the HRA board in July. Brand said he welcomes public input on the topic and the study’s findings.

Housing at the legislature

During the 2026 session, the Minnesota Legislature allocated $165 million to housing projects in the state. Brand said that typically, the allocation to support housing has been closer to $30 million or $40 million.  This year’s investment was earmarked for a few specific types of housing. About $100 million goes to investments in construction, about $40 million will go to assisting with rent stabilization for cost-burdened families and senior citizens, and the remaining $25 million will be invested in projects in greater Minnesota.

Brand said that he hopes to be able to leverage some of the funds earmarked for greater Minnesota to help projects in Cook County.

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with HRA Executive Director Jeff Brand about the May board meeting. Audio of that interview is below.

Kirsten Wisniewski May 27, 2026