SF No. 870 establishes a grant program administered by the Commissioner of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to provide grants to homeowners for the purposes of making modifications to their primary residences to accommodate a qualified person with a disability.

Section 1 [462A.50, Subdivision 1] provides definitions of federal poverty guidelines, Internal Revenue Code, medical provider, qualified modification or improvements, and qualified person. A qualified person is a person who is over age 64 or who has a disability and is either the homeowner, the homeowner’s spouse, or the homeowner’s dependent.  A qualified modification or improvement must be certified by a medical provider as necessary to accommodate the qualified person’s use of the residence, and must not be the construction of a new residence or of an addition to an existing residence.

Subdivision 2 requires the Commissioner of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to make grants for accessibility home modifications only to homeowners whose household income in below 450 percent of the federal poverty guidelines and only for qualified modifications and improvements. 

Section 2 (Appropriation) appropriates $2,000,000 annually from the general fund to the Commissioner of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for the purposes of the accessibility home modifications grant program under Minnesota Statutes, section 452A.50.