For the first time, the tenant hotline took over 20,000 NEW CALLS in one year. 2023 was the third straight year the hotline set a record for both new calls and follow-up calls. 20K is a massive number, especially considering where HOME Line began in 1992. From 1992-2001, HOME Line averaged 4,200 new calls per year meaning the hotline took more calls in 2023 than in the first 5 years of its existence combined.
We also took 36,765 total calls (new, plus follow—up)—a 5% increase in total calls over 2022, our previous record high for total calls.
Here are the top 10 reasons for hotline calls for all of 2023 compared to the number of calls for 2022.
Looking at the top 10, we had several categories with substantial increases this year:
Repairs has traditionally been the top reason for calls at HOME Line. Evictions have taken the top spot only during the last 20 months or so, as pandemic eviction restrictions were lifted. But repairs, security deposit questions and questions from tenants considering breaking their lease have gone up as our overall call volume has increased.
The categories with substantial drops are also interesting. Landlords giving tenants a notice to vacate is down 24%, largely because there were a very high number of calls during the first half of 2022 when landlords couldn’t legally file evictions in many cases so if the landlord wanted a tenant to vacate, they’d resort to this approach.
Financial aid questions were down a whopping 40% mostly because in 2022, hundreds of tenants were trying to navigate the RenthelpMN system during the last 6 months of the eviction moratorium.
Rent Increase questions were also down over 20%. Most of our 2022 Rent Increase questions were about the rent stabilization ordinance in St. Paul and the proposed ordinance in Minneapolis. This year, there’s a lot less confusion about these rules and less questions to our hotline.
HOME Line continues to be a recognized expert in Landlord/Tenant Law by government, non-profit, and private entities alike. HOME Line staff were interviewed for 38 different news stories throughout 2023 and our commitment to educating the public through presentations on key aspects of the law led to 79 speeches given in 2023 to over 3,500 attendees. We spoke in 24 different cities in 10 different counties. In the last 4 years, we’ve had more attendees (18,353) for our speeches than in the previous 9 years combined.
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