Senator Smith knows that without a safe, affordable place to live, nothing else in your life works. Not your job, your health, your family, or your education.
All Minnesotans deserve access to safe, secure, and stable housing. That is why Sen. Smith is committed to addressing the housing crisis happening in Minnesota and across the country. In the Senate, Senator Smith is recognized as a leading voice in proposing policy solutions to fix the affordable housing crisis. She is the top Democrat on the Housing, Transportation and Community Development Subcommittee, and in that role has held numerous hearings and proposed many bills aimed at addressing homelessness, boosting the supply of housing, investing in rural and senior housing, eliminating health and safety hazards in homes, and fighting against private equity and other bad actors pushing up the cost of housing.
Sen. Smith understands that renters are struggling to find units they can afford, homeownership is increasingly out of reach, and homelessness is on the rise. Unstable housing upends young people’s ability to learn in school, makes it hard for parents to hold down jobs, and has long-lasting, negative mental and physical health impacts.
While the lack of quality, affordable housing affects all communities, Black and Native individuals, other people of color in Minnesota, seniors, veterans and rural communities, often face disproportionately difficult housing challenges. As a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Sen. Smith has been a champion for addressing the housing inequities that Native Americans and Tribal Nations face. In 2020, two of her bills related to Native housing became law: the Tribal Access to Homeless Assistance Act and the Native American Housing Affordability Act, which make it easier for Tribes to access funds to combat homelessness and secure mortgages on trust lands, respectively.
Sen. Smith believes it is important to both make improvements to existing programs and propose new, bold solutions. As a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, she has introduced legislation to improve fire safety in homes, support homebuyers in Native communities and address the legacy of housing discrimination. Her bipartisan Rural Housing Service Reform Act would make important updates to USDA’s housing programs and protect properties in Minnesota’s rural communities from losing their affordability. She co-leads the bipartisan Reducing Homelessness Through Program Reform Act that would cut red tape and streamline federal homelessness programs to help house people faster and more efficiently. Additionally, Sen. Smith’s Housing for All Veterans Act would permanently prevent and end veteran homelessness across the country. And her Homes Act would give millions of Americans the freedom and opportunity to build the life they want by creating over a million permanently affordable homes.
Senator Smith will continue to fight for measures like these until they become law because she believes everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to live.
Latest Releases
U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s Bipartisan Bill to Extend Terrorism Risk Insurance, Support Housing Construction Passes the Senate Unanimously
Roughly 60 percent of American businesses have terrorism risk insurance, which is critical to major construction projects WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s bipartisan legislation to safeguard the availability of terrorism risk insurance coverage passed the full Senate by a unanimous vote. Roughly 60 percent of American businesses have terrorism risk insurance, which could become unavailable without further action by Congress. Sen. Smith (D-MN) led the bipartisan Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2026 alongside Senators Dave McCormick (R-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Thom Tillis (R-NC). Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, many insurance companies started excluding terrorism risks from commercial insurance policies, leaving businesses and industries without access to coverage. Since insurance is a precondition for commercial lending and real estate transactions, this gap in coverage threatened broad economic damage across real estate, construction, energy, transportation and related industries. Congress responded by passing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA), creating a federal reinsurance backstop to stabilize the private market and ensure that commercial policyholders could continue to obtain terrorism risk coverage. The private insurance market has relied on the TRIA backstop ever since. When TRIA briefly lapsed in December 2014, terrorism exclusions that insurers had pre-filed with state regulators took effect automatically, making terrorism coverage effectively unavailable across commercial policies nationwide. As a result, terrorism risk coverage was removed from policyholders immediately and without notice. Given that the current threat landscape remains elevated, allowing a similar lapse in terrorism coverage would expose policy holders to
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, MN Housing Organizations Unveil New Legislation to Build More Homeless Shelters, Upgrade Aging Shelters and Permanent Supportive Housing
In Minnesota, more than 6,500 people stay in shelters every night, with many shelters operating at or near capacity WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) unveiled new legislation to help more people find a warm and safe place to sleep by increasing the capacity of homeless shelters and permanent supportive housing across the nation, while making critical repairs and upgrades to aging shelters and permanent supportive housing buildings. The Building and Maintaining Homeless Shelters Act would provide $1.5 billion in much-needed federal support over the course of five years. More than 8,300 people experience homelessness on a daily basis in Minnesota, and around 1,800 people can’t find any shelter and are often forced to sleep outside. “Homeless shelters and permanent supportive housing providers are being asked to do more with less at a time when homelessness is on the rise in big cities and small towns. It’s not sustainable, and it’s past time the federal government stepped in,” said Sen. Smith. “This new legislation would increase funding for communities to build new shelters that meet their citizens’ needs while also providing major upgrades to aging shelters. It would mean fewer people on the street and connecting more people to resources to find a place to call home.” “Addressing homelessness requires a full continuum of care, but services cannot succeed without adequate physical infrastructure. Minnesotans navigating homelessness know all too well the exhaustion of a system lacking physical capacity, for both shelter and Permanent Supportive Housing, the long-term solution
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith Push the Trump Administration to Release Heating Assistance Funds Before Winter
More than 100,000 Minnesota households relied on federal energy assistance last winter WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (both D-MN) and
U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s Bipartisan Legislation to Extend Terrorism Risk Insurance, Support Housing Construction Passes Banking Committee
Roughly 60 percent of American businesses have terrorism risk insurance, which is critical to major construction projects WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s bipartisan legislation
U.S. SENATOR TINA SMITH’S BIPARTISAN RURAL HOUSING SUPPLY LEGISLATION BECOMES LAW
9,000 homes in rural Minnesota will be saved by Smith’s bill MINNEAPOLIS, MN – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), the top Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, announced her
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Releases New Report on Solutions to the Home Insurance Crisis
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), the lead Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, released a new report, Bold Solutions to the Home Insurance Crisis. It examines the nationwide crisis of rising home insurance costs, the role of climate-change-driven extreme
English