From Frogtown to West 7th, from Mac-Groveland to Dayton’s Bluff, stable housing in St. Paul benefits all of us; its loss harms tenants, neighbors and the entire city.
Yet too often our clients reach out because their apartments are deteriorating, rents are raised illegally and landlords ignore the law. As housing justice attorneys, we see daily how St. Paul’s current system leaves renters to fend for themselves.
That has to change. That’s why we are encouraging St. Paul voters to vote “yes” on Question 1, granting the city of St. Paul the ability to issue administrative citations to better enforce local ordinances.
At HOME Line, we provide free legal, organizing and advocacy services to tenants statewide. Each year, thousands contact our hotline for help. In 2024 alone, 2,761 St. Paul households — 5,771 people — reached out. Their top concern? Repairs. St. Paul renters are living with leaks, mold, pests and unsafe conditions that too many landlords refuse to address.
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The Housing Justice Center (HJC) protects affordable housing through litigation, policy advocacy and community education. In St. Paul, we regularly represent tenants whose landlords have violated the rent stabilization ordinance, sometimes increasing rent by 20%, 30% or even 50% without following the city’s process for exceptions.
Together, our work reflects a disturbing reality: too many landlords in St. Paul treat tenant protection laws as optional. Why? Because they can. St. Paul is the only one of the 25 largest cities in Minnesota that can’t issue administrative citations — a straightforward enforcement tool that would allow city staff to fine unscrupulous landlords who break the law. Without it, the city is left with only two extremes — send a warning letter or pursue a time-consuming, costly criminal case. Predictably, most violations result in no action at all.
The human cost of inaction is enormous. One HJC client faced a nearly 50% rent increase — even though her landlord hadn’t applied for a rent stabilization exception. She dutifully contacted city staff and her council member. Months passed. Without administrative citations, the city sent a strongly worded letter, which the landlord ignored. Relief came only after we filed a lawsuit and reached a settlement. But lawsuits are a last resort, not a substitute for meaningful city enforcement. Few renters can afford an attorney or navigate court alone.
HOME Line hears similar stories from renters living in unsafe homes. While tenants technically can take landlords to court for repairs, most can’t risk the cost, time or potential retaliation. Even when they win, the remedy is often limited to repairs long overdue. Landlords exploit this power imbalance, frequently cycling through new tenants until they find someone too vulnerable to complain.
When habitability issues in a slumlord’s building become egregiously dangerous, the city is left with few options — often drastic ones. A stark example is the Lowry, where the city was forced to revoke its certificate of occupancy. The result? Many tenants were left homeless. Stronger enforcement tools, like administrative citations, could help prevent such crises.
The few opponents to this common-sense enforcement tool say renters should “just hire a lawyer”, but that’s easier said than done. In 2024, 91% of the St. Paul tenants who contacted HOME Line were low-income. Most cannot afford attorneys, and public interest legal resources are scarce. Enforcement of renters’ rights cannot depend on nonprofits like ours filling the gap. The city must be empowered to act.
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Administrative citations won’t solve everything, but they will give St. Paul the power to hold lawbreaking landlords accountable, delivering faster resolutions with less risk involved for tenants. Financial penalties change behavior; a landlord ignoring a warning may pay attention once fined. We’d feel a real sense of relief knowing that, once administrative citations are in place, we could more confidently tell renters that contacting the city of St. Paul could lead to real change.
Our vision for St. Paul is simple: every renter should have a safe, dignified and affordable home. That means slumlords cannot operate unchecked, tenants and landlords must stand on equal footing under the law and city ordinances protecting renters must actually be enforced.
Between now and Nov. 4, St. Paul voters can make a real difference — vote “yes” on Question 1 and stand with renters.
Jessica Szuminski is a policy attorney at the Housing Justice Center. Samuel Spaid is a housing attorney and the impact litigation and research director at HOME Line.
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