St. Paul Chapter 2022 - Year in Review
submitted by John Slade
The St. Paul chapter worked on issues of rent control and renter protections in 2022. The citizens of St. Paul voted for rent control at the end of 2021, despite a multimillion dollar ‘anti’ campaign funded by big corporate developers. Since we were able to take the question directly to the electorate, the St. Paul Rent Stabilization proposal was one of the strongest in the nation, including all of the rental in the city and instituting a 3% rent cap. But the big money developers continued to fight in the narrow backroom corridors of power, and the City Council came forward during the fall with a slate of clawbacks, weakening the initiative.
MICAH joined a host of other community members in opposing the clawbacks, but we were defeated. Council Members Mitra Jalali and Nelsie Yang stayed strong in their support of effective rent control. While the corporate developers may have won a battle in 2022, there are signs that they may lose the war. Of the 4 councilmembers who voted with the developers, 3 of them are not seeking re-election. MICAH and other allies are already making support for strong rent control an issue for the 2023 election.
The chapter also continues to support SAFE 2.0, an agenda of renter protections that were briefly in force in 2021 (before the council caved to a lawsuit from – guess who? – the same set of big corporate developers who opposed rent control.) Removing racist tenant screening, instituting fair housing testing, getting representation for renters in housing court are all among the proposals we are working on.
The St. Paul chapter also was proud to honor former State Representative Alice Hausman with our first ever Lifetime Achievement award, for her years of leadership at the State Capitol on housing and shelter issues. Representative Hausman was a big supporter of the Homes for All coalition, formed over 10 years ago to prevent housing and shelter advocates from being played against each other. While she will be missed in the corridors of the State Office Building, we are hopeful for her continued participation in MICAH!