“Your Voice, Your Story Matters” by Amrita Vijay Jain (HOME Line, Public Policy Intern)
April 27, 2022: This week opened with legislators in the Minnesota House passing an important housing policy and spending bill (HF 4366) that aims to, amongst other things, reduce housing costs for tenants, provide tenant protections that can create more stable and fair housing, and increase homeownership. Late Monday night, as I watched the proceedings on YouTube, one of the bill’s authors, Representative Alice Hausman, summarized the key arguments in favor of the bill by reading excerpts from stories that residents from different parts of the state had shared with HOME Line to in turn share with legislators. Each of the stories were voices from Minnesota residents who had in some form or other expressed a need, a desire, or a vision of housing that they thought was essential to keep their homes, their children safe, and families together.
I had heard advocates urging people to reach out to their elected officials — call your representative, call your senator, call the governor, call your council member. But it was at HOME Line that I began to see the slow, steady sometimes perilous journey that these stories undertake to get to hallowed halls and places of power, and move decision-makers with their honesty.
When the opportunity surfaced to take part in HOME Line’s weekly Action Hour as a way to collect stories from tenants all across Minnesota, I took it. But it was not until this Monday, that I finally saw how remarkably effective those testimonials can be.
Sitting on my work desk, every Wednesday afternoon, with other members of the HOME Line community, we reach out to tenants and hear their issues, their hopes, their dreams, and their struggles. Once the calls are done, we transcribe and label them and send them to legislators on both sides of the aisle.
As the weeks went by, I began to notice how powerfully these life experiences argued for what the people of the state wanted, irrespective of their political leanings or life experiences. At a time when myths and half-truths shape popular opinion and almost every issue is contested politically, hearing straight from struggling folks matters a great deal. The legislative session on Monday was proof that it is important for legislators, council members, and other elected officials to hear from real people.
After the pandemic hit, Minnesota lost about 400,000 jobs (Minnesota Housing 2022-2023). During the pandemic, about 70,000 homeowners and 60,000 renter households were behind their housing payments and needed assistance (Minnesota Housing 2022-2023). The figure was twice as high as the state normally sees (ibid.). Even though we are seeing a recovering economy, some of the effects of the pandemic will be prolonged for the housing sector. Take the example of RentHelpMN, the program that was providing rental assistance since last year and was abruptly shut down this past January. Since the closure of RentHelpMN, eviction filings have increased dramatically. Housing disparities created during the pandemic will take a long time to even out. It is a wake-up call for stronger and more effective measures needed to tackle it.
When I began making those Action Hour calls and speaking to people, what I heard over and over again was that they had never anticipated falling into bad times. They shared that it was hard for them to turn to the government to ask for help. And yet, they were thankful that help was there when they needed it. Many families and children were saved from homelessness during the pandemic because help was provided, yet countless others still await support.
At HOME Line, I attended meetings with allies, lawmakers, other researchers, and federal, state, and local housing advocacy groups. In all these meetings, I heard a shared agenda for making real improvements to the lives of Minnesotans. But in each of these ideas and plans, I noticed a room, a space, a yearning to hear from constituents — the people that placed elected officials in positions of power. Many policy-makers hold onto the stories they hear for it provides the legitimacy they need to take action.
If there is one thing that I have learnt most substantially in watching the events at the Minnesota Legislature this year, it is this— each elected official gets its power from you. When you make that phone call to your senator or representative or governor or council member, it adds up with the other voices. Your voices filter through the politics, the partisanship, the vested interests. It becomes its own spokesperson.
So this blog post is both an affirmation and a call. An affirmation that no matter how broken and unwieldy and tiring the system feels at times, people in power are still people at heart and they carry all of their legitimacy from us. A call to embrace your power and to share more, reach out more. Your voice, your story matters.
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References
Minnesota Housing, 2022-2023 Affordable Housing Plan. https://www.mnhousing.gov/sites/np/np/reports
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