Minneapolis City Council members to start process for rent protections
[courtesy of Tony Webster]
The Minneapolis City Council is set to start the process for new renter protection policies in its meeting Friday morning.
Council President Lisa Bender announced on Thursday that she and council members Cam Gordon and Jeremiah Ellison will pursue a charter amendment to allow rent stabilization and ordinances requiring written notification before eviction and just cause for landlords to decline lease renewals.
In a thread on Twitter, Bender wrote that eviction protection and rent stabilization will benefit low-income renters, who she said are "disproportionately likely" to be immigrants, Indigenous or people of color.
"Too many lose their homes to eviction or displacement – we need to use every tool we have under state law to prevent eviction & stop unlimited price gouging by landlords," Bender tweeted. "These policies are a missing piece of work to support housing stability for our most vulnerable neighbors."
Under state law, any rent stabilization policies have to be enacted via charter amendment, which would go before voters this year.
The three council members on Friday will give notice of their intent to formally introduce these policy changes at the council’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 29.