Historic Renter's Rights Victory in St. Paul!!

Photo credit HENS - Shaquonna Jackson, second from left, MICAH member

MICAH & COMMUNITY DEFEAT LANDLORD LOBBY IN 7-0 COUNCIL VOTE

In the midst of a pandemic, riding the wave of a racial justice uprising, MICAH and a coalition of community groups and activated renters won sweeping protections for St. Paul renters. On July 8th, 2020, the St. Paul City Council voted unanimously to pass the Stable, Accessible, Fair and Equitable (SAFE) Tenant Protection ordinance. This major victory for fair housing and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color will increase the quality of life for St. Paul renters for years to come.

For years, MICAH has been hearing about how communities of color were crippled by the strict background checks landlords used. Criminal records reaching back over 20 years, housing court actions where the renter won, and credit records damaged by medical bills all kept people out of housing – and BIPoC people more than others. Another realm of abuse was non-renewals of leases. In Minnesota when your signed lease is up, you move to a month-to-month contract, where the landlord could, at any time, giving no reason, announce to a renter they needed to be out at the end of the next month. With 83% of Black St. Paulites renting, this was also a fair housing issue.

The SAFE protections will change both of these. The Tenant Screening guidelines will limit the information that can be used by landlords. Credit scores will not be allowed; criminal records will be limited to the last 3 years for misdemeanors, 7 years for most felonies, and 10 years for a small set of crimes. Arrests with no charges, vacated and expunged charges, and housing court actions over 3 years old are not allowed to be considered.

Renters will also be required to be given a just cause if the landlord wants to not renew. There are a list of legitimate reasons – family needs to move in, the renter does not pay rent on time (violates the lease), the building will be renovated. But all too often, without this just cause, landlords claim things like “they must be dealing drugs, they have so many people coming in.”

The other three planks of the plan limit the amount of damage deposits to one times the rent – often landlords would charge people with records 2 or 3 times the monthly rent. There would be a 90 day advance notice of sale that would allow both tenants, city staff, and nonprofits to find ways to keep affordable housing affordable. Finally, landlords would have to inform renters of their rights in clear language.

While MICAH was front and center on these proposals since before they were even introduced, we did not do this alone. We were a part of a coordinated campaign – Housing Equity Now St. Paul (HENS). This group included the Alliance, three District Councils - the Southeast Community Organization, Frogtown Neighborhood Association, and the West Side Community Organization – our faith partners at Jewish Community Action, and the Housing Justice Center. We also had a multitude of other allies and people inside and outside City government. We also did this not only during the humanitarian crisis of Coronavirus, but also at the time of the racial justice uprising that was triggered by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Black and other leaders of that movement have changed the political ground we walk on, and we need to be thankful!

The Minnesota Reformer covered the story and had an excellent quote from Council Member Mitra Jalali - “Just as our Black neighbors experience violence in policing, they also experience the violence of displacement, of eviction, of housing discrimination,” said Council Member Mitra Jalali. “This housing agenda will insure stability for all St. Paul renters, especially the thousands of Black, brown, Asian, Latino, Indigenous and other working families of color.”

The community provided the pressure from the outside, and inside the Council and the City, strong champions carried that power to the decision making tables. Council Member Jalali and her aide Matt Privratsky worked tireless hours at the helm of the campaign, bringing together advocates on the one hand and her colleagues on the other; she was truly the linchpin of the campaign. Newly elected councilmember Nelsie Yang – like CM Jalali, a young woman renter of color – stood by every step of the way, speaking as well from her experiences. In City Staff, Kirstin Burch, the Fair Housing Coordinator, did everything from community meetings to research to drafting language – to celebrating victory!
Landlords pushed back hard. The same group – the Multi Housing Association – that opposed Minneapolis passing similar language – came to the table. They suggested that troublesome tenants would run riot, that their bottom lines would be ruined, and that their rights as property owners were being impinged upon. Their testimony leaned heavily on fear of crime – and fear of people of color.

During the run up to the final vote, a dozen amendments were suggested, most of which watered down the strong provisions in the ordinance. Each one was beaten back, with the exception of a 6 month implementation delay – and that was brought back to a 3 month delay! Even better – the 90 day notice of sale provision, which originally exempted single family and duplexes, then got moved to units of 4 or smaller, got brought back to include ALL units, even single family!

MICAH brought our fair housing concerns to city staff – we commented on the early drafts, attended the local hearings, had meetings with 4 of our council members before the policy came out, called each of them and emailed as ability to meet directly was impacted by the pandemic, and when the public hearing was held, 2 of the 12 advocates who testified were Elaine Tarone and Adam Fitzpatrick from MICAH!

These policies will come active on March 1st of 2021. There will be some implementation hurdles. We will also be moving forward on the fair housing agenda, as we look at issues like fair housing testing, Section 8 acceptance, inclusionary zoning, and rent control. But we do all of these with a major victory behind us and the wind at our backs! We are building the beloved community, step by step.

We are MICAH, we are part of a movement, and we are strong!