60-Day Eviction Extension Does Not Serve Intended Community

Despite the Saint Paul ordinance being veto-proof, Mayor Her won’t sign a 60-day eviction extension notice. Across the river, Mayor Frey vetoed the Minneapolis ordinance. Mayor Her acknowledges that we all share the goal of ensuring Saint Paul residents can achieve housing stability and remain in their homes, especially after Operation Metro Surge. We share both her very real concerns that this ordinance will produce the opposite result, and her preference for rental assistance supports.  In her own words:  “I fear that often times at the city we are pulling the wrong lever at the wrong level of government. This ordinance has many signs of repeating the same mistakes.”

I so appreciate these mayors’ considerations: they both heard the concerns of affordable housing providers and landlords alike —those closest to the issue—who have warned that policies like this can compound financial distress for renters “in ways that can follow them for years.”

The urgency to act is real, and the desire to do something is both understandable and necessary. The challenge, as always, is choosing the right approach. That is the work before us: ensuring that well-intentioned policies are also effective ones. Our role remains to help inform that policymaking so that, in trying to solve the problem, we don’t inadvertently make it worse.

See you in the trenches,
B

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