At 90 years old, Hilda Chavera discovered a new goal in life: to be tenants.
Chavera, a Minneapolis resident of 50 years, said she has noticed her city has changed and many of her neighbors suffer from staying home.
“People can’t pay rent. They evict them from their homes. They feel like they’re not being heard,” Chavera told Stateline. He began organizing the pandemic in 2020 with the advocacy organization United Renters for Justice. “It probably wouldn’t take long to see something change, but I don’t want the younger generation to feel like they have to decide between where to live and what to eat. “
In the decade leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesota-based tenant advocates lobbied state lawmakers for a variety of hiring protections, but those efforts failed.
This spring, however, the newly Democratic-controlled legislature passed about 15 laws in a referendum that supporters described as the most comprehensive update to state legislation on renters and landlords in a century. The measures come with the right to a lawyer for social housing tenants facing eviction, limits on the scope of landlords’ eviction powers and greater transparency into required rental rates.
“Prior to this session, several [Minnesota cities] followed their own local protections prior to eviction because the state took too long,” said Eric Hauge, executive director of HOME Line, a Minnesota-based tenant advocacy group.
“With these bills, the state legislature, through it all, has supported the tenant organizing that was falling in our cities. “
Tenant advocates told Stateline that the tenor of the tenants’ rights movements has changed over the past three years. Before the pandemic, battles on Capitol Hill revolved around maintenance and substandard housing. Today, those debates are more likely to focus on affordability and keeping other people alive. in their homes.
Rents are rising: The average rent in the United States increased by 18% between 2017 and 2022.
The end result for many cash-strapped tenants is eviction.
As the number of renters in the U. S. grows. In the U. S. (millions, or more than one-third of American households, are renters), organizers pushing for tenants’ rights are ranking higher among state legislatures across the country.
Hauge said he’s seen more lawmakers speaking out or even campaigning on their reports as tenants. An investigation by the news firm New York Focus found that within the New York legislature, Democratic lawmakers who hire are far more likely to protect contractors than homeowners.
“One thing that influences all of this, compared to five or ten years ago, is that there are an increasing number of state legislators who lately are renting or enjoying much more renting their homes,” Hauge told Stateline.
Historically, tenants have been underrepresented at all levels of government; Research suggests that the imbalance has resulted in an overwhelming majority in favor of homeowners.
According to Dr. Alexandra Alvarado, director of education and marketing at the American Apartment Owners Association, an industry group, said advances in tenant coverage in some states have replaced the dynamic between landlords and renters.
“As we become more and more of a nation of tenants . . . what comes with this is that tenants are asking for more rights, and that’s not a bad thing,” Alvarado said in an interview. “And the owners would possibly have to admit that they no longer have the upper hand. “
In September, about two hundred Michigan tenants flocked to Lansing, Michigan’s capital. William Lawrence, one of the lead organizers of the Rent Is Too Damn High coalition, said organizers saw a “perfect storm” to pass a rent-friendly law and repeal the state law. Prohibition of procurement control.
For the first time since 1984, Democrats hold the governorship and either house of the Michigan legislature. According to the United Way of Michigan, 26 percent of families in the state earn too much to qualify for federal benefits, but struggle to meet their basic needs. Much of their source of income goes into rent, as wages have stagnated.
“We know that, as renters, this is our opportunity to ask for replacement and meaningful reform of rental housing,” Lawrence told Stateline. “When you see two hundred other people singing the same thing and experiencing the same thing, what better time than now to enact renter coverage measures in our state. “
But those countries have experienced setbacks and encountered resistance.
A bill to repeal the state’s ban on rent control, in place since 1988, would ease the rent burden for Michigan renters in cities like Detroit and Ann Arbor, advocates say.
If the measure passes, Lawrence said it would be a “missed opportunity” given the makeup of the government.
“I think there are politicians [in the legislature] who think there’s no chance of overturning that preference. But hiring control is on everyone’s lips,” he said. “People talk about hiring control, and it’s very transparent that tenants need hiring control. It is up to our legislators to make those demands.
The bill is currently in committee in the House.
Rent control has met resistance in many legislatures this year. And during this legislative cycle, measures requiring landlords to have valid reasons to evict someone, known as “just cause” eviction protections, have been introduced in some states, without success. .
These include Connecticut, Maryland and New York, all states in which Democrats hold the legislative chambers and the governor’s mansion.
“People would possibly think that just because we have a Democratic majority in the state and in the governorship, the state is favorable to renters and renters. That’s not the case,” said Luke Melonakos-Harrison, an organizer with the Connecticut Tenants Union. “There’s no guarantee that we’ll get the protection we want for tenants to stay in their homes. “
In other states, New Mexico’s Democratic-controlled government has repealed the state’s ban on hiring controls.
As we are increasingly a nation of tenants. . . This is because tenants are asking for more rights, and that’s not a bad thing. And owners would possibly have to admit that they no longer have the upper hand.
– Alexandra Alvarado, Director of Education and Marketing for the American Apartment Owners Association
And in California’s interior, a bill prohibiting landlords from conducting criminal background checks as part of the tenant screening process has never been considered by a Senate committee.
The California Apartment Association called this bill and other “crime-free housing” expenses presented in the legislative consultation harmful. Alvarado, of the American Apartment Owners Association, said landlords “want knowledge and data to make decisions that can save them from evictions in the future. “
“If landlords can’t use eviction records or criminal history, what else do landlords intend to base their risky resolution on who to hire?She.
California has already passed hiring and eviction laws, but lawmakers have closed loopholes in those laws.
In September, they passed a bill aimed at fixing a loophole in existing law that allowed landlords to circumvent the state’s rent cap by evicting renters and bringing in new tenants with higher rents. The bill awaits the signature of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Meanwhile, several Republican-dominated states have gone in the opposite direction, enacting laws that cut protection for renters.
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill that prevents local hiring and replaces tenants’ rights measures passed in counties such as Miami-Dade and Pinellas.
Meanwhile, Texas passed a sweeping law prohibiting cities from adopting eviction protections and other expressly legal local ordinances statewide.
However, a state ruling declared the bill unconstitutional before it took effect this month. The Texas Attorney General’s Office filed an appeal against the decision, arguing that the law is still in effect.
Austin landlady Victoria Wilson told Stateline that eviction powers are a “necessary” measure to fight non-payment of rent. However, he added, landlords cannot abuse them, nor can they be strictly regulated through the government or the courts.
Oklahoma Republicans tried to pass an anti-retaliation bill that would protect tenants from revenge landlords (one of the few states where the practice is legal), but without success.
And a bipartisan Georgian bill that would have required landlords to ensure rental homes were “fit for human habitation” when signing a lease did not pass.
When asked via Stateline what housing policies he would like the Minnesota Democratic trio to consider, Republican Senator Eric Lucero, who sits on the Senate Housing Committee, touted the “free market” housing policies that exist in Republican-controlled Montana and Democratic-controlled Vermont. Washington State.
He told Stateline that new legislation subsidized by Democrats in his state is unbalancing the tenant-landlord dynamic.
“There is a balance in state law that balances and protects the rights and day-to-day jobs of tenants and housing providers, yet the Democratic majority continues to actively forget about the testimonies and reports shared through those on the side of housing providers and housing providers. Lucero said.
To make sure its new protections are in place in 2024, HOME Line’s Havge said the organization will hold workshops over the next few months with tenants and landlords to inform them about the laws.
“A law is effective without their respect. We know that some homeowners respect the law and need to continue to respect it,” he said. “We need to make sure we answer their questions and hold tenants accountable for those changes, before they take shape. “
Stateline, like Alaska Beacon, is owned by States Newsroom, a grant-funded nonprofit news network and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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by Robbie Sequeira, Alaska Beacon September 27, 2023
At 90 years old, Hilda Chavera discovered a new goal in life: to be tenants.
Chavera, a Minneapolis resident of 50 years, said she has noticed her city has changed and many of her neighbors suffer from staying home.
“People can’t pay rent. They evict them from their homes. They feel like they’re not being heard,” Chavera told Stateline. He began organizing the pandemic in 2020 with the advocacy organization United Renters for Justice. “It probably wouldn’t take long to see something change, but I don’t want the younger generation to feel like they have to decide between where to live and what to eat. “
In the decade leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesota-based tenant advocates lobbied state lawmakers for a variety of hiring protections, but those efforts failed.
This spring, however, the newly Democratic-controlled legislature passed about 15 laws in a referendum that supporters described as the most comprehensive update to state legislation on renters and landlords in a century. The measures come with the right to a lawyer for social housing tenants facing eviction, limits on the scope of landlords’ eviction powers and greater transparency into required rental rates.
“Prior to this session, several [Minnesota cities] followed their own local protections prior to eviction because the state took too long,” said Eric Hauge, executive director of HOME Line, a Minnesota-based tenant advocacy group.
“With these bills, the state legislature, through it all, has supported the tenant organizing that was falling in our cities. “
Tenant advocates told Stateline that the tenor of the tenants’ rights movements has changed over the past three years. Before the pandemic, battles in the House of Representatives revolved around maintenance and substandard housing. Today, those debates are more likely to focus on affordability and keeping other people alive. in their homes.
Rents are rising: The average rent in the United States increased by 18% between 2017 and 2022.
The end result for many cash-strapped tenants is eviction.
As the number of renters in the U. S. grows. In the U. S. (millions, or more than one-third of American households, are renters), organizers pushing for tenants’ rights are ranking higher among state legislatures across the country.
Hauge said he’s seen more lawmakers speaking out or even campaigning on their reports as tenants. An investigation by the news firm New York Focus found that within the New York legislature, Democratic lawmakers who hire are far more likely to protect contractors than homeowners.
“One thing that influences all of this, compared to five or ten years ago, is that there are an increasing number of state legislators who lately are renting or enjoying much more renting their homes,” Hauge told Stateline.
Historically, tenants have been underrepresented at all levels of government; Research suggests that the imbalance has resulted in an overwhelming majority in favor of homeowners.
According to Dr. Alexandra Alvarado, director of education and marketing at the American Apartment Owners Association, an industry group, said advances in tenant coverage in some states have replaced the dynamic between landlords and renters.
“As we become more and more of a nation of tenants . . . what comes with this is that tenants are asking for more rights, and that’s not a bad thing,” Alvarado said in an interview. “And the owners would possibly have to admit that they no longer have the upper hand. “
In September, about two hundred Michigan tenants flocked to Lansing, Michigan’s capital. William Lawrence, one of the lead organizers of the Rent Is Too Damn High coalition, said organizers saw a “perfect storm” to pass a rent-friendly law and repeal the state law. Prohibition of procurement control.
For the first time since 1984, Democrats hold the governorship and either house of the Michigan legislature. According to the United Way of Michigan, 26 percent of families in the state earn too much to qualify for federal benefits, but struggle to meet their basic needs. Much of their source of income goes into rent, as wages have stagnated.
“We know that, as renters, this is our opportunity to ask for replacement and meaningful reform of rental housing,” Lawrence told Stateline. “When you see two hundred other people singing the same thing and experiencing the same thing, what better time than now to enact renter coverage measures in our state. “
But those countries have experienced setbacks and encountered resistance.
A bill to repeal the state’s ban on rent control, in place since 1988, would ease the rent burden for Michigan renters in cities like Detroit and Ann Arbor, advocates say.
If the measure passes, Lawrence said it would be a “missed opportunity” given the makeup of the government.
“I think there are politicians [in the legislature] who think there’s no chance of overturning that preference. But hiring control is on everyone’s lips,” he said. “People talk about hiring control, and it’s very transparent that tenants need hiring control. It is up to our legislators to make those demands.
The bill is currently in committee in the House.
Rent control has met resistance in many legislatures this year. And during this legislative cycle, measures requiring landlords to have valid reasons to evict someone, known as “just cause” eviction protections, have been introduced in some states, without success. .
These include Connecticut, Maryland and New York, all states in which Democrats hold the legislative chambers and the governor’s mansion.
“People would probably think that just because we have a Democratic majority in the state and in the governorship, the state is rent-friendly and renter-friendly. That’s not the case,” said Luke Melonakos-Harrison, an organizer with the Connecticut Tenants Union. “There’s no guarantee that we’ll get the protection we want for tenants to stay in their homes. “
In other states, New Mexico’s Democratic-controlled government has repealed the state’s ban on hiring controls.
As we are increasingly a nation of tenants. . . This is because tenants are asking for more rights, and that’s not a bad thing. And owners would possibly have to admit that they no longer have the upper hand.
– Alexandra Alvarado, Director of Education and Marketing for the American Apartment Owners Association
And in California’s interior, a bill prohibiting landlords from conducting criminal background checks as part of the tenant screening process has never been considered by a Senate committee.
The California Apartment Association called this bill and other “crime-free housing” expenses presented in the legislative consultation harmful. Alvarado, of the American Apartment Owners Association, said landlords “want knowledge and data to make decisions that can save them from evictions in the future. “
“If landlords can’t use eviction records or criminal history, what else do landlords intend to base their risky resolution on who to hire?She.
California has already passed hiring and eviction laws, but lawmakers have closed loopholes in those laws.
In September, they passed a bill aimed at fixing a loophole in existing law that allowed landlords to circumvent the state’s rent cap by evicting renters and bringing in new tenants with higher rents. The bill awaits the signature of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Meanwhile, several GOP-dominated states have gone in the opposite direction, enacting laws that cut back on tenant protections.
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill that prevents local hiring and replaces tenants’ rights measures passed in counties such as Miami-Dade and Pinellas.
Meanwhile, Texas passed a sweeping law prohibiting cities from adopting eviction protections and other expressly legal local ordinances statewide.
However, a state ruling declared the bill unconstitutional before it took effect this month. The Texas Attorney General’s Office filed an appeal against the decision, arguing that the law is still in effect.
Austin landlady Victoria Wilson told Stateline that eviction powers are a “necessary” measure to fight non-payment of rent. However, he added, landlords cannot abuse them, nor can they be strictly regulated through the government or the courts.
Oklahoma Republicans tried to pass an anti-retaliation bill that would protect tenants from revenge landlords (one of the few states where the practice is legal), but without success.
And a bipartisan Georgia bill that would have required landlords to make sure rental homes were “fit for human habitation” when signing a lease did not pass.
When asked via Stateline what housing policies he would like the Minnesota Democratic trio to consider, Republican Senator Eric Lucero, who sits on the Senate Housing Committee, touted the “free market” housing policies that exist in Republican-controlled Montana and Democratic-controlled Vermont. Washington State.
He told Stateline that new legislation subsidized by Democrats in his state is unbalancing the tenant-landlord dynamic.
“There is a balance in state law that balances and protects the rights and day-to-day jobs of tenants and housing providers, yet the Democratic majority continues to actively forget about the testimonies and reports shared through those on the side of housing providers and housing providers. Lucero said.
To make sure its new protections are in place in 2024, HOME Line’s Havge said the organization will hold workshops over the next few months with tenants and landlords to inform them about the laws.
“A law is effective without their respect. We know that some homeowners respect the law and need to continue to respect it,” he said. “We need to make sure we answer their questions and hold tenants accountable for those changes, before they take shape. “
Stateline, like Alaska Beacon, is owned by States Newsroom, a grant-funded nonprofit news network and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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Alaska Beacon is owned by States Newsroom, a network of grant-funded news bureaus and a coalition of donors as a 501c public charity (3). Alaska Beacon maintains its editorial independence. Please contact editor Andrew Kitchenman if you have any questions: info@alaskabeacon. com. Follow Alaska Beacon on Facebook and Twitter.
Robbie Sequeira is a Stateline covering housing and social services.
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