HOME Line

A nonprofit Minnesota tenant advocacy organization

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Toll-free from Greater Minnesota: 866-866-3546
or email an attorney

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Home / Mission & Noteworthy Accomplishments

Mission & Noteworthy Accomplishments

Mission

HOME Line provides free legal, organizing, educational and advocacy services so tenants throughout Minnesota can solve their own rental housing problems.  HOME Line works to improve public and private policies relating to rental housing by involving affected tenants in the process.

Programs & Noteworthy Accomplishments

HOME Line major programs include: tenant hotline services, tenant organizing and policy advocacy.

Tenant Hotline

Tenant hotline: The hotline is a service that provides renters throughout Minnesota with legal information regarding their rights as tenants. Lawyers, law students, and community volunteers respond to renter inquiries, providing follow-up support and form letters when necessary. The hotline has advised over 300,000 renter households since 1992 and averages over 1,000 households advised each month. Tenant advocates and attorneys have also given over 2,000 speeches; including high schools, social workers, landlords, and local governments, informing the public about Minnesota tenant/landlord laws.

The Tenant Hotline is the first and only statewide tenant hotline in the country.

If you are a tenant in Minnesota and you are interested in your renter rights, you can receive free legal advice by emailing our attorneys here or by calling our free Tenant Hotline:

(612) 728-5767 …or call us toll-free from Greater MN at: (866) 866-3546

Tenant Organizing

Tenant organizing: Collective action to help tenants come together and work towards solving common issues. The program focuses on  ‘preserving’ federally subsidized apartments and developing tenant leadership to empower those affected to become spokespeople for themselves and their neighbors. Since 1997, HOME Line has helped preserve over 9,100 units of affordable housing.  In recent years, HOME Line has also adapted our organizing to work with renters to prevent the loss of affordable market rate housing and to respond to emergency and ongoing repair and substandard housing situations.

Via our tenant organizing program, HOME Line has:

  • Organized tenants in a variety of low and subsidized apartment complexes across the state of Minnesota, and developed leadership to preserve affordable housing, get repairs made, and stop bad management practices.  Thousands of Section 8 and Rural Development affordable rental units have been kept affordable to low-income Minnesotans as a result of tenants speaking up.
  • Created an inventory of all the federally assisted privately owned housing in Minnesota into one database and identified properties at risk for loss of affordability.
  • Proactively door-knocked thousands of apartment units to inform tenants of their rights and engage them in public policy issues relating to their housing.
  • Organized and helped found the Minnesota Tenants Alliance, a network of over 7,300 low-income tenants throughout Minnesota who work to preserve and advocate for affordable housing.
  • Conducted an annual Section 8 survey, 15 years in a row, to determine landlords acceptance of Section 8 Vouchers in the market place.

Policy Advocacy

Policy advocacy: Through this program, HOME Line builds tenant leadership into local, state, and federal efforts focused on preserving affordable housing policies. By working with our tenant leaders, HOME Line has helped to establish a grassroots program, the Minnesota Tenants Alliance (MTA), which enables tenants to collectively work on affordable housing policies.

On the state level, HOME Line has influenced a variety of legislation:

  • The Renters Credit was bolstered by over $12,000,000 in the 2013 Legislature, restoring cuts from previous years. This means an additional 79,000 low-income renters will receive an average increase of $152 in their renters credit.
  • Provisions in the 2010 Tenant Bill of Rights made Minnesota law more tenant-friendly and are saving tenants millions of dollars through revisions to policies on tenant screening fees, late fees, attorney fees, and security deposits.
  • Enact the Tenant Impact Statement, a one year notice before owners terminate federal subsidies.
  • Appropriate a $10 million annual state program to preserve affordable housing.
  • Enact the Right to Privacy, establishing legal standards for landlords entering an apartment.
  • Remove the 4d tax credit incentive for owners who terminated federal subsidies  (1999, sunset in 2000).
  • Prevent of the passage of legislation that would have given tenant screening companies rights beyond the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

On the Federal level we helped influence important laws and programs:

  • Enact the Wellstone Notice, a federal notice statute requiring owners to give notice before they can terminate federal subsidies.
  • Enact legislation that created the National Housing Trust Fund.
  • Prevent legislation that would have enacted HUD administrative changes dismantling the Section 8 program.
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Recent HOME Line Posts

  • April Hotline Volume up 8% from 2024
  • In the Arena: Attending Legislative Meetings As a Newcomer
  • VISTA Member to Present Tenant Oral History Capstone Project
  • Overview of Tenant/Landlord Law CLE on May 8th!
  • Recording of 5/21/2025 HOME Line Tenant/Landlord Webinar: New City Ordinances
  • VISTA Member Harnesses Skill, Passion to Lead Creation of Duluth Tenants Union Zine
  • First Quarter Contacts Increased in 8 of Top 10 Categories
  • Recording of 4/23/2025 HOME Line Tenant/Landlord Webinar: Rental Housing Market Analysis with HousingLink
  • Contacts to Hotline increased 12% in February from 2024
  • VISTA member uses creativity and innovation to drive accessible renter engagement
  • Embracing Your Voice: Reflections From a First-Time Lobbyist
  • Recording of HOME Line’s 3/19/2025 Tenant/Landlord Webinar: Overview of Housing Subsidy Programs
Archive of previous HOME Line news posts

Legal Resources

  • Form Letters
  • Local Minimum Heat Rules
  • Local Crime-Free Ordinance Policies
  • Important Statutes & Selected Cases
  • Selected Legislative History
  • Court Forms

HOME Line
8011 34th Ave S, Suite #126
Bloomington, MN 55425

HOME Line is a tax-exempt non-profit organization under Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3).

Our EIN is 41-1941115.

The original content within this website is © 1992–2025 HOME Line.