Developers and Consultants
Bridging funding gaps to advance development goals
The Metropolitan Council offers Livable Communities grants for development projects that add affordable housing, create community-centered commercial spaces, or clean up contaminated property.
How Livable Communities Grants Work
Now’s the time to get more from your next development project. More funding. More cash flow. And more opportunities to partner with cities and counties on new projects. All the while, you’re making more of a positive impact on people and communities in the Twin Cities region.
With a Livable Communities grant you can get much-needed funding to offset rising construction costs earlier in your project.
Developers, community organizations, and individuals cannot apply directly for a Livable Communities grant. All Livable Communities grants are awarded to a city, county, or other development authority. Developers and consultants partner with the government organization on the application and completing the project.
Steps to Apply
Choose the right development project. Livable Communities grants primarily support development activities for new, rehabilitated, or preserved affordable housing and community-driven commercial spaces, including:
- Pre-development work, including feasibility studies and design
- Aquisition and site preparation, environmental investigation, and cleanup
- General construction and site improvements
Additionally, all grants are reimbursement based, so the project cash flow must be able to accomodate that. Learn more about how the Met Council selects Livable Communities development projects on the
Development Projects page.
Talk with staff at the city where your project is located. All grants must be sponsored and submitted by a city, county, or development authority in the Livable Communities program. It’s important to identify and coordinate your efforts early in the development process as participating municipalities may have additional requirements for you to meet.
Minneapolis and Saint Paul have a process with pre-applications to decide which applications they will sponsor and submit. Learn about the Minneapolis and Saint Paul processes.
Talk with a Met Council Program Coordinator. We are here to help! The Program Coordinator can help you understand program priorities, eligible activities, and what makes a successful appliction. Find contact information at the bottom of this page.
Government partner staff will start and submit the application. The government partner staff person you are working with will start the application and set up collaborators for the application in Fluxx. Wait to register for an account until you have talked with your government partner staff. As the project team, you will work with your government partner on filling out the application and the government partner will submit the final application.
Review the Apply for Grants page for more information.
The Livable Communities program values working with public-private-partnerships that include emerging developers. If you are just getting started in real estate development and need support to begin planning your project before applying for a Livable Communities grant, the following resources may help:
If you are awarded a grant
If your project is awarded a grant, the grant agreement will be between the Metropolitan Council and the government sponsor, not with your project team. Your government partners will set up a sub-recipient agreement with the project team to outline how funds will get to the project.
All Livable Communities grant funding is reimbursement based for work that is done during the grant term. The government partner will submit a request for funds to be released. The Metropolitan Council will release funds to the government partner, who will then pass those along to the project team. Each city has a different process for this, so talk with your government partner about their process.
More detailed information on the post-award process is available on our Current Grantees page.