Veterans housing initiative breaks ground on 15th Minnesota home
A new housing project in St. Paul is helping the ongoing effort to end veteran homelessness.
The groundbreaking for the 15th home in the Housing for Heroes initiative took place Monday.
The effort is a partnership between the Housing First Minnesota Foundation, homebuilder Lennar and the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV).
The St. Paul site will feature a three-bedroom main home and an accessible dwelling unit (ADU) in the backyard.
"So we're standing at the site of our 15th home for heroes in partnership with Lennar and Housing First Minnesota," Sarah Regal, chief housing officer for MACV, said.
MACV says the homes provide both transitional and permanent housing for veterans who face significant barriers, including criminal records or long histories of homelessness, that can keep them out of traditional rental markets.
"A lot of the veterans that we serve maybe have a long-term history of homelessness, might have some justice involvement, that might make a traditional landlord say, 'I'm sorry we can't accept your application,'" Regal said. "So we really serve the vets that often have no other places to go."
The program prioritizes flexibility — serving individuals, families and senior veterans, many of whom need accessible living arrangements. About half of MACV's clients are 55 or older.
"We get to house single adults, we get to house families, people who are in transition or people who are ready for something more permanent," Regal said.
Lennar Vice President of Operations Scott Rothrum said the new home will be a slab-on-grade build with three bedrooms, while the ADU will be designed with accessibility in mind.
"It'll have three bedrooms, and then on the back side, we'll also have an ADU. More one-level living in the event that somebody is more confined to being in a wheelchair or walker," Rothrum said.
Rothrum has helped oversee the construction of 13 homes with the initiative.
"Each new home we construct brings a sense of excitement, knowing that a deserving veteran will soon have a place to call home," he said.
Acquiring land for these homes is often a challenge. The St. Paul lot was previously owned by the city and transferred to Dayton's Bluff Home Ownership before being donated for this project.
"We worked with them for quite a long period of time to make sure that they were really excited and comfortable with being a partnership with us," Regal said.
Once construction is complete, MACV staff will go door-to-door to introduce themselves to neighbors.
"A lot of folks will see our flag go up and say, 'We're excited to have you here,'" Regal said.
During Monday's ceremony, Regal said that while progress has been made, the work is far from finished.
"There's a very, very real veteran and a very, very real family that is afraid right now, who doesn't have the home they need," she said. "We need to continue to serve those that have served us, and make sure that every veteran in the state of Minnesota really does have a long-term, stable housing opportunity."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
LEN Q2 Deep Dive: Margin Pressures Mount as Lennar Prioritizes Volume and Technology Investments
Homebuilder Lennar (NYSE:LEN) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q2 CY2025, but sales fell by 4.4% year on year to $8.38 billion. Is now the time to buy LEN? Find out in our full research report (it's free). Revenue: $8.38 billion vs analyst estimates of $8.29 billion (4.4% year-on-year decline, 1.1% beat) Backlog: $6.48 billion at quarter end, down 21.2% year on year Market Capitalization: $27.15 billion Lennar's second quarter results were met with a negative market reaction, as the company delivered revenue ahead of Wall Street expectations but saw adjusted earnings per share fall short. Management highlighted that persistent affordability challenges in the housing market, driven by higher interest rates and cautious consumer sentiment, led to increased use of sales incentives and reduced margins. Executive Chairman Stuart Miller noted, 'We remain focused on driving volume and growth, matching production and sales pace using margin reduction to enable affordability.' Despite a drop in profitability, Lennar continued to prioritize keeping production steady to preserve long-term relationships and operational efficiencies. Looking ahead, Lennar's strategy centers on leveraging technology to drive cost savings, maintain sales pace, and eventually rebuild margins even as market conditions remain soft. Management expressed confidence that ongoing investments in initiatives such as the Lennar Machine (a digital marketing and pricing platform) and a new land management system will help streamline operations over time. CFO Diane Bessette emphasized, 'These initiatives have been and will continue to add SG&A as well as corporate G&A for some time to come as they represent a significant investment in our differentiated future.' Management acknowledged that while near-term headwinds persist, they believe the company is approaching a turning point where technology-driven efficiencies can support margin recovery. Management attributed the quarter's margin pressures to increased incentives needed for affordability, while emphasizing progress on operational efficiencies and technology adoption. Increased sales incentives: Lennar raised sales incentives to 13.3% during the quarter, primarily in the form of mortgage rate buydowns, to address affordability challenges and support sales volumes. Technology-driven sales and pricing: The company's Lennar Machine platform is now central to marketing and dynamic pricing, utilizing real-time data to optimize incentives and maintain sales pace across diverse markets. Core product rollout: Approximately one-third of new home starts now use Lennar's core product design, which management claims is reducing construction cycle times by nearly 20 days and lowering costs relative to non-core offerings. Land-light strategy advances: Lennar further reduced its supply of owned home sites, increasing reliance on controlled (but not owned) land, and continues to develop a digital land management system in partnership with Palantir to increase efficiency. Ongoing SG&A investment: Elevated selling, general, and administrative expenses reflect both lower leverage on falling revenues and higher spending on technology and marketing, which management believes will yield long-term efficiency benefits. Lennar expects ongoing softness in demand to weigh on margins, but is betting that technology and cost discipline will position the company for improved profitability longer term. Persistent affordability headwinds: Management expects higher-for-longer interest rates and cautious consumer sentiment to continue driving the need for incentives, putting near-term pressure on margins and average sales prices. Technology-enabled cost savings: Initiatives like the Lennar Machine and digital land management systems are designed to streamline marketing, sales, and land acquisition processes, which management believes will lower costs and support future margin recovery as adoption scales. Operational focus on inventory turns: The rollout of standardized core product designs and tighter inventory controls are expected to boost inventory turns and cash generation, with a stated long-term goal of reaching 3x inventory turns, up from the current 1.8x. In the quarters ahead, StockStory analysts will monitor (1) the pace of adoption and impact of Lennar's technology initiatives on cost structure, (2) the effectiveness of incentives in sustaining sales volumes without further eroding margins, and (3) improvements in inventory turns and cash generation as more divisions implement standardized core products. Execution on these priorities will be key to tracking Lennar's progress toward its margin recovery targets. Lennar currently trades at $103.98, down from $109.41 just before the earnings. At this price, is it a buy or sell? Find out in our full research report (it's free). Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump's presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth. While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we're leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 5 Strong Momentum Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fast Company
a day ago
- Fast Company
Housing market weakness triggers Lennar to offer biggest incentives since 2009
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert's ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. There is a consensus among major publicly traded homebuilders that the spring 2025 housing market—especially in many parts of the Sun Belt, where inventory has climbed above pre-pandemic 2019 levels—was softer than they expected. While some builders have started focusing more on maintaining margins—and some have slowed their housing starts—Lennar has continued to push forward. Instead of defending short-term profitability, Lennar—America's second-largest homebuilder—is using this period of housing market softness as an opportunity to capture market share and maintain sales pace through bigger affordability adjustments. Here are our top nine takeaways: 1. Lennar: 'All of the markets we operate in experienced some level of softening' According to Lennar, it has observed at least some 'softening' across all its markets this spring. Even its 'strongest' markets have lost some momentum. This aligns with ResiClub 's reporting. 'All of the markets we operate in experienced some level of softening [this quarter],' Lennar co-CEO John Jaffe said on the company's June 17 earnings call. 'Even in our strongest performing markets, buyers needed the assistance of incentives. Incentives will vary across the different markets, but primarily in the form of assistance with mortgage rate buy downs.' Jaffe added: 'The markets that experienced more challenging conditions during the quarter were the Pacific Northwest markets of Seattle and Portland, the Northern California markets of the Bay Area and Sacramento, the Southwestern markets of Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Colorado, and some Eastern markets such as Raleigh, Atlanta, and Jacksonville.' 2. Lennar is deploying bigger sales incentives Lennar's average sales price came in at $389,000 in Q2 2025—that's down 8.7% from $426,000 in Q2 2024. And oh, boy, is Lennar spending a lot on incentives. In Q2 2025, Lennar spent an average of 13.3% of the final sales price on sales incentives, such as mortgage-rate buydowns. At that incentive rate, a home with a $450,000 sticker price would come with nearly $60,000 in incentives. According to John Burns Research and Consulting [ see its historical chart here ], that's the highest incentive level Lennar has offered since 2009—and it's significantly higher than Lennar's cycle low in Q2 2022, when it spent 1.5% of the final sales price on sales incentives. Earlier this year, Lennar co-CEO Stuart Miller noted: 'These are outsized [incentives] for the moment and normalized incentives should be around 5% to 6%.' Pretty much: Where and when needed—especially in pockets of Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas, where active inventory has bounced back and buyers have gained leverage—Lennar is cutting net effective prices through larger incentives to find the market and keep sales rolling. The biggest net price cuts occurred in Lennar's East division—which, while it includes Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, is dominated by operations in the Sunshine State— the epicenter of housing market weakness over the past year. 4. Additional margin compression During the pandemic housing boom, many publicly traded homebuilders achieved record profit margins as home prices soared and buyer demand ran red hot. Once the national housing demand boom fizzled out in the summer of 2022, many large homebuilders made affordability adjustments where and when needed to maintain their sales pace. Despite some profit margin compression, almost every major homebuilder entered 2024 with gross margins still above pre-pandemic 2019 levels. However, in recent quarters, margin compression has returned—especially for Lennar. During the company's December 2024 earnings call, Lennar CFO Diane Bessette stated that the company anticipates further margin compression, with gross margins expected to range between 19.0% and 19.25% for Q1 2025. Lennar's Q1 2025 gross margin ended up being 18.7%, and its Q2 2025 gross margin on home sales came in on June 16 at 17.8%. On the June 17 earnings call, Miller said he expects Lennar's gross margin to be 18.0% in Q3 2025. 5. Lennar: Sales pace > margin As highlighted above, amid the softening market, Lennar has chosen to maintain sales pace over margin. Among the big builders, it has been the most aggressive on that front. It's now spending 13.3% of final sales price on incentives—and doing some of the biggest net effective price cuts in the Sun Belt—in order to keep sales up. 'We are not there yet, but we are certain that we are finding a floor with margin and getting close to building it back even in a softer housing market environment,' Miller said on the June 17 call. 'As the current market softness unfolded, we focused on consistent [sales] volume by matching our production pace with our sales pace.' Miller added: 'Although some have questioned why we have maintained volume rather than protect our margin, we are very clear and steadfast on our strategy. Historically, we protected margin as market conditions stalled, and we generally led the way in protecting short-term profitability. But we learned through those times that once we step backwards and lose momentum, it becomes increasingly more and more difficult to restart and recapture volume. The machine slows and does not restart easily. We have concluded that by maintaining volume, we can create new efficiencies and new solutions that are durable for the future and will result in meaningful long-term efficiencies in our cost structure.' Lennar's Q2 2025 division-level performance was relatively steady once you account for its February 10 acquisition of Rausch Coleman Homes, which largely explains the sharp year-over-year jump in the South Central division. The Western division was a bit softer, reflecting broader cooling trends across many Western housing markets over the past six months. In contrast, Lennar saw a bit more growth in its Eastern division, particularly in Florida. Why? It's likely that Lennar's earlier and more aggressive discounting in Florida is now paying off, attracting buyers who are still encountering resale sellers resisting the shifted pricing environment in their local neighborhoods. 7. Lennar: No impact from tariffs—yet 'With respect to the question regarding tariffs, consistent with our commentary last quarter, we have had no impact to date on our costs from tariffs,' Lennar's Jaffe said on the earnings call. 'We work closely with the supply chain to prepare for alternative sourcing if it becomes necessary as well as the expectation that our trade partners will work with us to mitigate and offset cost impacts should they present themselves.' 8. Lennar: 'There's little evidence to support expectations of materially lower' mortgage rates this year 'Initially, many in the housing market held on to the hope that higher interest rates were temporary, expecting inflation to subside and rates to drift back to lower levels. However, this expectation has not materialized,' Miller said on the June 17 call. 'Looking ahead, there's little evidence to support expectations of materially lower interest rates in the near term. As a result, elevated interest rates have solidified as the new normal. The environment is about recognizing that short supply is keeping prices higher and that only lower prices enabled by lower cost structures will define affordability.'
Axios
2 days ago
- Axios
The housing market slump is getting worse
A longtime slump in the new housing sector is getting worse, according to new indicators. Why it matters: The broader economy held up during a "rolling recession" that hit the housing industry in recent years. That might not be the case this time if other sectors slow concurrently. Catch up quick: Builders broke ground on home construction in May at the slowest pace in five years. The issuance of building permits, an indicator of the appetite to build homes, also hit a five-year low. Sentiment among homebuilders dropped to the lowest level since 2022 in June. Lennar, one of the nation's biggest homebuilders, reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings, citing a soft housing market. State of play: Now the sector faces new Trump-era factors, including tariffs and deportations, that are holding back construction and limiting supply. Plus, in certain parts of the country, there is too much inventory compared to demand. Driving the news: Housing starts fell almost 10% last month to an annualized pace of 1.3 million, well below the rate that economists expected, the Commerce Department said Wednesday morning. Building permits also came in worse than expected, particularly for single-family homes. They dropped to an annualized rate of 898,000, nearly 3% below April. What they're saying: The National Association of Home Builders said sentiment among builders has only been lower than its June level twice since 2012. "Buyers are increasingly moving to the sidelines due to elevated mortgage rates and tariff and economic uncertainty," said Buddy Hughes, a North Carolina-based developer who chairs the NAHB, said in a statement Tuesday. The big picture: Softer demand is being met by higher building costs, including for labor and materials. The industry is heavily reliant on immigrant workers, who are being targeted for deportations by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, tariffs on steel and aluminum have doubled to 50%, except for U.K. imports of the materials. The Trump administration is considering higher tariffs on wood materials, including lumber. "New construction has slowed as builders have pulled back on production," Lennar co-CEO Stuart Miller said on an earnings call Tuesday.
