February was an exciting month for tenant protections: all of the bills on HOME Line’s legislative agenda have been moved to the House General Register! This means that they are one step closer to passage in the House: they have passed through the necessary committees and can now be heard on the full House floor to receive a final vote. The bills cover the issues of eviction reform, heat, repairs, privacy, true cost of rent, and the ability to break your lease in certain cases of infirmity. HOME Line is working with allies to get as much support for these bills as possible.
If you would like to show your support for HOME Line’s agenda, we need similar action in the Minnesota Senate. Calls to the Chair of the Senate Civil Law and Data Practices Policy Committee, Senator Mathews (651-296-8075), asking him to “hear tenant protections’ legislation authored by Senator Dziedzic” are needed urgently.
Below is a summary of recent hearings and testimony about the bills.
February 9th: Heat & Repairs (HF 398), Privacy & Fees (HF 399), Break Lease for Infirmity (HF 400)
Link to 2-09 hearing
- On February 9th, the House Housing Finance & Policy Committee met to hear testimony and vote on three of the tenant protection bills proposed by HOME Line. Representative Her, the bills’ author, noted that the goal of these bills isn’t to tip the scales in favor of a particular group, but to provide more consistency and less ambiguity in the law. For example, heat codes in Minnesota are inconsistent across the state, ranging from 60 to 68 degrees (or many cities that have no requirements). HOME Line attorney and research director, Samuel Spaid, testified that HOME Line has already received over 50 calls about heat just this year. Representative Her stated that “Minnesota renters deserve to live in a home that is warm”, and a heat code requiring 68 degrees statewide would achieve that.
- Regarding repairs, as a tenant, Brooklyn Center resident Matheis Lockett testified about experiencing a broken furnace, broken refrigerator, and an infestation of bees. Yet under Minnesota law, fixing the refrigerator and dealing with a bee hive in his basement were not considered emergencies. Also, when his furnace broke last year, it was so cold that he had to stay in a hotel for a week. Similarly, when his refrigerator broke, he was unable to use it for a week. He lost money because of these issues: $300 worth of food lost and the cost of purchasing space heaters due to the cold. Matheis’s story speaks to the importance of expediting these repairs, as well as reducing the cost of filing a case in court for emergency repairs: current court fees are unaffordable, especially when people have already lost money because of the emergency and are already overburdened with the price of rent.
- Drew Mares is a tenant who testified about his experience with added fees. He and his partner found a place to rent, paid an application fee, and put down a deposit for the unit they wanted. Later on, however, they found out about additional administrative fees just to pay rent and a carpet cleaning fee that would have cost them hundreds of dollars. Finding out about these fees and having to look for housing all over again was “heartbreaking”. Drew’s experience is not uncommon: non-negotiable fees are not always included in the cost of rent. These include amenity fees, moving in fees, even a “January fee”. Often, tenants are unable to avoid these fees because they are not in a position to negotiate, having already started the process of moving or having paid a deposit, or the fees are buried in a complicated lease. House File 399 would increase transparency by requiring these fees to be included in the cost of rent.
- Regarding tenant privacy, the law currently only requires a landlord to give “reasonable notice” before entering a rental property. However, this is a subjective term. Landlords can give blanket notices not specifying the time they will enter the property, leaving potential for tenants to have landlords walk in at inopportune times such as while the tenant is showering. This privacy issue, the source of 700 calls to HOME Line last year, is an especially concerning problem during the pandemic. House File 399 would require a landlord to give a 24-hour notice before entering a property, amongst other privacy protections.
- Finally, a tenant is currently only able to break a lease if they are a victim of specific types of violence, have been called up for active military duty, if the property is condemned, if all occupants die, or very rarely on a judge’s order. But what about medical conditions? If someone suffers a stroke, for example, they may need to move to a more appropriate unit for their long-term medical treatment. Sam Smith of NAMI Minnesota testified about the importance of this bill regarding mental illness: someone suffering from a mental illness may require residential treatment. People shouldn’t have to choose between treatment and the financial consequences of breaking their lease or being evicted. HF 400 would allow tenants to break their lease and give a 2-month notice if a doctor has written a letter stating they cannot live in their current housing due to certain health conditions. Two months’ notice would give their landlord time to find a new tenant.
February 18th: Eviction Notice (HF 20) & Expungement Reform (HF 265)*
Link to 2-18 hearing
* these bills have since been included in the Governor’s housing policy bill HF 835, also authored in the House by Rep. Her. HF 835 was heard in this same committee on February 25th
Link to 2-25 hearing
- The approximately 15,000 evictions that happen each year in Minnesota are expensive, traumatic, and cause homelessness and increased shelter costs. A 14-day pre-eviction notice would provide the necessary time for landlords and tenants to find a better resolution. Larry McDonough, a housing attorney for almost 40 years, stated that a pre-eviction notice which is already standard practice in 43 states, “gives both the parties an opportunity to discuss the problem, figure out if the rent debt can be cured, get emergency assistance, and in some situations it encourages the tenant to move because the property is not affordable.” This legislation is supported by the Governor’s office and Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.
- On the other end of the spectrum, an eviction record can make someone unable to find housing for many years. Churches United CEO and Homes for all Co-Chair, Pastor Sue Koesterman, recounted a story about a family in a shelter with an 8 year old daughter, 4 month old infant, and a 4 year old eviction still keeping them from getting housing. Kara Hoel-Kleese of Women’s Shelter and Support Center testified about a woman with an eviction from 7 years ago making it hard to find a place to rent. HF 265 would remove evictions from the public record if the landlord and tenant agree to expungement, the tenant fulfills a settlement, or automatically after three years. Kristin Rosenberger of Twin Cities United Way emphasized the importance of an eviction notice for domestic violence victims that are disproportionately impacted by eviction. She noted: “eviction prevention is homelessness prevention.”
March 2nd: House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee (HF 398, HF 399, HF 400, HF 835)
Links to 3-02 hearing (1 & 2)
- On March 2nd, the House Judiciary Finance Committee heard from all of HOME Line’s previous testifiers and also heard new testimony from Linda Soderstrom, from southeast Minnesota, who had an eviction action filed against in 2017 because of the landlords clerical error that was not her fault. The action taken by her landlord is still on her record 4 years later. If she had been given a pre-eviction notice, the eviction action would never have happened. After hearing testimony, all of the bills passed the committee. In fact, the break lease for infirmity bill (HF 400) had unanimous support.
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.
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