Mayor Frey vetoes eviction notice extension, proposes $1 million in rental aid instead
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has vetoed a proposal to extend the city’s eviction timeline. Instead, he proposed allocating $1 million in city funding to rental assistance as an alternative way to help residents pay their bills.
“I believe that this is the best path forward,” Frey wrote in a letter to the City Council. “Rental assistance is working and getting to renters quickly.”
The eviction extension policy would have required landlords to give tenants 60 days’ notice before filing for eviction, instead of 30 days. The city council approved that measure last week.
Council members and several local housing advocates said the measure would have helped residents who are struggling to pay rent amid the federal immigration surge, as some have stayed home from work or seen a family breadwinner detained.
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The council passed the policy after hearing from dozens of residents at a public hearing who said they wanted the council to step in to stop evictions. Several housing advocates also told the council and Frey that this would help keep people housed.
Council President Elliot Payne said in a statement that the veto is frustrating.
“I’m proud that the City Council can say we did everything in our power to give our neighbors more time to stay in their homes after they were forced to hide for months from the federal government,” Payne said. “I’m so disappointed Mayor Frey vetoed this bare-minimum policy.”
But several local shelters and affordable housing landlords spoke out against the proposal. They said it could end up hurting residents.
In letters to Frey and the council, several organizations said they worry that landlords would simply evict residents as soon as the extension expired — leaving them with an eviction on their record and debt from months of unpaid rent.
Hoang Murphy is the president and CEO of People Serving People, a Minneapolis homeless shelter. He said he saw this happen in 2021, when a pandemic-related eviction moratorium ended.
Some families who come through the shelter have $20,000 in unpaid rental debt, he said.
“If you can’t pay one month rent without additional support, you’re not going to obviously be able to pay three, and so it’s really just kicking the can down the road,” Murphy said.
Murphy said that doesn’t mean eviction restrictions are always a bad idea — but they need to be paired with financial aid. More time without more money doesn’t change tenants’ situations; but it can take time to access money set aside for rent assistance.
A city report released last month estimates that the immigration enforcement surge created a need for an additional $15.7 million in rent assistance. Hoang said his organization has seen skyrocketing requests for emergency rental assistance, even as neighbors pool additional money in mutual aid to help each other pay rent.
In an interview with MPR News, Frey said he doesn’t want to extend eviction timelines in the hopes that more money comes through.
“Getting a whole ton of money from the state or the federal government for emergency rental assistance is not guaranteed,” Frey said. “We don't want to be put into place at the city where we are getting people with the expectation that a ton of money is going to come in… and then that money doesn't actually materialize.”
He also cited concerns that landlords would lose money and miss repairs and maintenance.
Supporters of the measure on the council say the city needs a better plan to keep people housed.
“Mayor Frey has not articulated a plan to prevent mass evictions caused by Metro Surge,” said policy authors Robin Wonsley, Jamal Osman, Soren Stevenson, Jason Chavez, Aisha Chughtai and Aurin Chowdhury in a statement following the veto. “Mayor Frey’s veto was with full knowledge that current resources for rental assistance are significantly insufficient to address the need.”
The council will take a vote on whether to override the veto. Supporters will need to flip some votes — an override requires at least nine in favor and the measure passed 7-5 last week.
The authors of the policy said they welcome the proposal for more rental assistance. Frey’s proposed funding, which would come out of the city’s affordable housing fund, will need approval from the city council.
So far, the city of Minneapolis has approved $1 million for rental assistance; Frey’s proposed funding would double that. City council members say they’re working with city staff to get that fund set up and start taking applications for help in the coming weeks.
Council member Jamison Whiting says the Wilson Foundation has also agreed to match that $1 million if the city council passes it.
The city council previously considered a proposal to reallocate money from that fund for rental assistance, but voted it down. Opponents said that money is needed for ongoing affordable housing work. But Whiting said he’s hopeful the council will approve it this time.
“We had an additional million dollars attached to this,” he said. “We have to get this money out the door, and this is an avenue to do it.”
A proposal for rental assistance is also moving through the state Legislature.
