Moving 18 times before his 18th birthday solidified Eric Johnson’s drive to work in affordable housing. A former community development director for the city of Bloomington, he most recently served as chief of economic development, housing, and neighborhood services for Dallas. He returned to Minnesota in February to join Aeon, the Minneapolis-based affordable housing developer. His goal is 10,000 new units in the next 10 years: “I’m looking at how we do projects with greater partnership, greater creativity.” That will require a combination of private sources along with the usual government programs, he says. “We need the business community to start to make the connection between economic growth and housing. I’m not afraid to test new boundaries.”

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