Public Policy Blog: Stories from Renters Advance Tenants’ Rights at the Capitol

HOME Line is best known as Minnesota’s statewide tenant legal hotline, offering free and confidential legal assistance to renters with questions about such things as repairs, security deposits, and evictions. Motivated by these calls and stories from clients, HOME Line also works on policies to improve conditions and rights for renters, which are dependent on the legal system in which they exist. For example, a systemic issue that renters experience with evictions is that a landlord filing an eviction action against them in court stays on their record — even if they don’t actually end up being evicted. This can prevent people from being able to rent in the future, sometimes contributing to homelessness. HOME Line wants to change this. One of the proposed policies is to require a 14-day notice by landlords before evictions can be filed, to give people a chance to find a solution. Then, if they don’t end up being evicted, there is nothing to stay on their record.  Also, HOME Line proposes that after three years, an eviction be removed from their record, called an “expungement,” offering tenants a clean slate. HOME Line is also proposing legislation to ensure fair leases, a right to privacy, a statewide minimum heat code, increased emergency repairs, and reduced emergency repair filing fees.

Minnesota’s 2021 legislative session has just begun. HOME Line has been preparing for it, and this is where I come in. My role at HOME Line is to write about the public policy work being done, providing you with updates and a look into the legislative process. Last Monday, Michael (HOME Line’s public policy director) and I attended Homes for All’s weekly meeting. Homes for All is a statewide coalition of over 250 organizations dedicated to housing stability and policy solutions. In the meeting, advocates introduced themselves, strategized, and reviewed the membership in the Minnesota Legislature’s most important committees: Housing Policy and Finance, Health and Human Services, and Civil Law. However, the main event the first week was Homes for All’s virtual campaign kick-off last Friday. During the event, over 100 attendees listened to stories from people that have experienced homelessness, as well as speeches about proposed legislation. You could hear the energy and passion in people’s voices – as well as the urgency. As I’m writing this, there are people on the streets and people at risk for homelessness. People are struggling. 

Representative Hausman, while receiving recognition for her work in the Minnesota House, highlighted the need for solutions: “shelters save lives… and housing ends homelessness.” While things may seem grim, there is hope in the fact that there are so many people committed to improving things – including you.

Emily Sailors is a third-year International Studies student at St. Catherine University. She is interning at HOME Line through her university’s Community Leaders program.