Saint Paul Chapter July Report
Frogtown Farm Fun!
By Jean Gebenhain
Freedom from the Streets (FFTS), accompanied by MICAH and St. Timothy Lutheran, hosted a free BBQ on June 10, at Frogtown Park/Farm.
Leaders and members of Freedom from the Streets as well as partners from St. Timothy Lutheran and MICAH welcomed neighbors from the surrounding area to enjoy hamburgers, hot dogs, resources, giveaways, and conversation.
Yusef Carrillo, candidate for the upcoming St. Paul School Board election, came and listened to FFTS members concerning the intersection of housing insecurity and school issues. Candidate Carrillo said he found the discussion "eye-opening" and meaningful, as did Junail Freeman-Anderson, founder of FFTS.
Cheniqua Johnson, candidate for the Ward 7 St. Paul City Council, also came, and listened to issues and solutions from FFTS members and neighbors. She spent a lot of time just being with us!
We are thankful for the candidates' time and interest.
Abby, from East Side Freedom Library interviewed Junail Freeman-Anderson and others for their Housing Newsletter. We will look forward to reading that!
It appeared a good time was had by all!
You are welcome to join us at the next BBQ:
Saturday, August 12, Noon-3:00
Frogtown Park/Farm
946 Minnehaha Ave W, St Paul, MN 55104
Renter’s Rights – Expanded at the State, Still Work to do at Home!
By Elaine Tarone
At the June Chapter meeting we hosted Rachael Sterling from HOME Line, one of their lawyers and the communications coordinator, to find out about the newly passed tenant protections at the state level. These were the biggest expansion of renter’s rights in a single session in the state’s history, with new laws taking effect on 1/1/24:
Landlords must give at least 14 days’ notice before filing an eviction noticed for nonpayment of rent.
Evictions must be expunged from renters’ records after 3 years, or immediately if tenants win a case, a case is dismissed, or both parties agree.
Evictions can be reported in the public record ONLY AFTER the court judgment is filed.
Landlords must make total cost of housing transparent, disclosing fees added to the rent in all advertisements and on the first page of the lease.
Stronger privacy rules: landlords must give 24 hours’ notice before entering a rental home unless tenants give permission, and landlords can enter only during a predetermined time window between 8am and 8pm.
Tenants can break lease with 2 months’ notice if certain medical conditions require.
A minimum heat code of 68F is required Oct 1 to April 30 if tenant doesn’t control heat.
Category of emergency repairs (which expedite court proceedings) is expanded to include “no working refrigerator,” “no working air conditioning (if included in lease),” serious infestations, notice of intent to condemn, non-working elevators (if included).
Lockout petition filing fees for emergency repairs are lowered to level of small claims court filing fees.
Multiple changes to eviction procedures.
Right to counsel in public housing breaches of lease eviction cases.
Guidelines for lease prohibitions of on-site crimes leading to eviction.
(For detail, see a 90-minute, recorded June 14 presentation and PPT on the HOMELine website: https://homelinemn.org/newlaws/ )
The following tenant protections pursued by the St Paul chapter in 2021 were not included in the statewide legislation, and remain in our sights:
Just cause for non-renewal of leases.
90-day advance notice to tenants of sale of rental unit.
Elimination of racial screening criteria.
Right to counsel for ALL renters in lease eviction cases.