Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D), now running for U.S. Senate, promised a Somali audience in 2023 to seek funding for “culturally relevant treatments and care” and support multifamily housing.
Flanagan outlined the spending plans during a Somali American Coalition event with Minnesota’s Somali community, discussing the administration’s budget proposals, housing needs, and how the state collects information about people experiencing homelessness.
“We have put out our initial budget, but you can expect in our supplemental budget that there also will be dollars that are targeted specifically to culturally relevant treatments and care,” Flanagan said. “And this is a real opportunity for us to work together.”
The remarks have resurfaced amid investigations into fraud involving Minnesota’s taxpayer-funded programs, including child nutrition, housing services, and autism treatment. Federal and state investigators searched 22 locations in April as part of the broader crackdown.
Trump administration officials have also accused Minnesota Democrats of benefiting politically from the networks receiving government funding. In January, then-HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill described what he considered a political patronage system in which officials overlooked fraud while grant recipients supported those keeping them in power, Breitbart News reported.
“It really looks like there is a political patronage system that’s running the state,” O’Neill said.
Flanagan said the administration would seek additional funding but did not specify an amount for treatment and care or identify organizations that would receive the money. On housing, Flanagan pointed to a proposed $1.5 billion package covering assistance for people without homes through support for those purchasing their first property:
“And of course, housing, we’re all the way there,” she said. “We have gone big, $1.5 billion in proposals from our relatives experiencing homelessness all the way to first-time homebuyers.”
“And we have heard you with a need for multi-family housing as well,” Flanagan said.
The housing figure matched the administration’s January 2023 proposal. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Flanagan sought $1.5 billion for housing measures that included preventing homelessness, expanding affordable housing, and helping end homelessness among veterans. The plan also called for additional support for emergency services, transitional housing, and young people experiencing homelessness.
Flanagan also addressed requests to break down state data into more specific groups, including information about education and homelessness.
“The disaggregation of data as it relates to education and to our relatives — we call them relatives when we talk about this in our community — our relatives experiencing homelessness,” she said.
Disaggregating data means separating broader totals into smaller categories so officials can examine differences that statewide numbers may obscure. Flanagan said she chaired the Interagency Council to End Homelessness and would take the issue back to that body.
“This is something I will bring back immediately for us to start looking at that disaggregation of data,” she said. “I hope that you will be partners in us in working on that important issue.”
Flanagan also pointed to $200 million the administration had set aside in its proposed capital budget for organizations serving minority and immigrant communities.
“We have set aside $200 million to go directly to organizations that serve communities of color, immigrant communities, Native communities, because we know how to spend that money best and invest in the things that our communities need,” she said. “So we need your help in getting that over the finish line.”
The administration’s 2023 capital budget recommendations included a $200 million proposal for construction and other capital projects undertaken by community organizations led by and serving people of color and American Indians. State budget documents listed the proposal under “Equity in Bonding.”
