The Work Continues - St. Paul Chapter Update

During crisis, work continues on critical renter rights legislation at St. Paul City Hall

The new St. Paul ordinances to protect renters from abusive landlords were supposed to come out before Christmas last year. Then they were due in January. Then they went to the City Attorney and were going to be out early in February for sure. The press conference to announce their release happened on March 5th. The first case of coronavirus in the state was confirmed March 6th.

The public hearing for this package, called the S.A.F.E. (Stable, Accessible, Fair, and Equitable) Housing Tenant Protections, was laid over as the City shut down, and is now scheduled for May 20th. It is likely that this public hearing will be virtual.

Renters need these protections, now more than ever. The coronavirus outbreak has shown clearly that our for-profit housing market is broken. Housing is a public health issue. People are losing income and cannot afford rents that were too high to begin with.

There are four proposals that are part of the current package. They are:

• Just Cause Notice: Landlords must put in writing a good reason – a ‘just cause’ – to not renew a lease. A new apartment owner can’t just decide they will get rid of all the current tenants for no reason. Nonpayment of rent, apartment damage, and repeated late payment of rent ARE considered ‘just causes.’
• Tenant Screening Guidelines: Landlords can no longer dive deep into people’s rental, criminal, or credit records to deny them. Misdemeanors older than 2 years or felonies older than 7 years will no longer be legitimate reasons to not rent to someone. Rental history still counts, but credit rating does not.
• Security Deposit Limit: Landlords have been using huge security deposits, which they rarely return, when they think they can get away with it. This is paired with the screening so landlords don’t just require ever larger deposits for people who have less-than-perfect records.
• Advance Notice of Sale: This requires a 90 day notice be given to the City and to renters before an affordable property is placed on the market as well as after the transfer of ownership occurs. There is also a tenant protection period after the sale.

These are the beginning steps for building greater renter power within the City of St. Paul. Now – what can we do to help make these happen?

1. We need to identify renters and homeless people who will be benefited by these protections. Their testimony is critical as they need to be the face of the proposal. Email John or Patti if you have such a story or know someone with one!
2. We need to get public comments submitted to the proposal. They are online now.
3. Our city council members need to hear that we support these proposals. This includes everyone on the council.

Support among the council is relatively strong, but landlords are organizing against this. We need, as a chapter, to be strong in our support. The following links will take you to the public comment page and to find your city councilor’s email.

Legistar: go to this page, and find the small blue ‘add new comment’ link on the left hand side of the page just under the ‘history’ tab

City Council: go to this page, click on your own council member.