On February 10th, HOME Line hosted another COVID-19 webinar—the recording is further below. We were joined by two guest speakers: Katie Pauk and John Buhta. Both are Legal Aid attorneys who advise and represent renters outside of the metro area. They discussed evictions in their organization’s service areas, what their clients are experiencing during the pandemic, their thoughts on what is to come, and they fielded a number of questions.
Katie Pauk has been a Staff Attorney with Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota (LSNM) since 2015. At LSNM she represents low-income clients with civil legal issues including all matters of housing law. She serves on the Racial Justice Committee at LSNM, is Chair of the More than Shelter Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program Board, and serves on the Board of both West Central Continuum of Care and HOME Line. She graduated from William Mitchell College of Law in 2015 and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Northern Iowa in political communications in 2012. Prior to her work at LSNM she interned and volunteered at several non-profits focused on housing law including HOME Line and Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Housing Discrimination Law Project.
John Buhta has been a housing attorney with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) since 2015. He works out of the Rochester office and his service area covers 11 counties in Southeastern Minnesota. Prior to joining SMRLS, John was a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Robert Birnbaum and Referee Gail Baker in Olmsted County District Court.
HOME Line has been hosting webinars since mid-April on COVID-19 and how it affects Minnesota landlords and tenants. Over 3,800 tenants, social workers and landlords have watched these live presentations and over 2,200 have watched recorded versions.
We hope this training was helpful to you. Please consider giving a tax-deductible donation to support our work by clicking here.
Links/Materials discussed during the webinar:
- Slides from the webinar
- HOME Line’s general COVID-19 information/resource page
- Recordings of our previous webinars
- MN Housing page with info about upcoming COVID-19 rental assistance program and sign up for an email list for future information.
- MN Housing page with links to resources for renters
- For submitting complaints about evictions/lease terminations, contact the MN Attorney General: Eviction complaint form
(651) 296-3353 (Twin Cities Calling Area)
(800) 657-3787 (Outside the Twin Cities) - List/links to all of Minnesota’s Executive Orders
- 8/4/20: Emergency Executive Order 20-79 (current eviction suspension order)
- HOME Line’s FAQ on the current eviction suspension executive order (EO 20-79)
- CDC press release on extending federal suspension until 3/31/21
- Original CDC suspension in the Federal Register
- Executive Order 20-81, mask/face covering requirements
- HOME Line’s FAQ on mask requirements in rental housing
- Law Help MN: Page on Renters Rights and Court
If you are a renter in Minnesota and you have a question about your specific housing situation, please contact our free tenant hotline: 612-728-5767 or via email. Also, some general rental housing information regarding COVID-19 is available here.
We hope this training was helpful to you. Please consider giving a tax-deductible donation to support our work.