St. Paul renter advocates to launch "right-to-repair" ballot campaign
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St. Paul tenant rights advocates are launching a campaign to put a "right-to-repair" ordinance on the November ballot.
Why it matters: If enacted, the ordinance would join St. Paul's growing list of sweeping tenant protections and give renters more leverage to address certain lingering maintenance problems.
How it works: The "Safe Homes Saint Paul" campaign envisions an ordinance modeled on one Duluth voters overwhelmingly passed last fall, coordinator Cole Hanson told Axios.
- Under Duluth's policy, tenants have the right to make basic repairs to their units — like fixing a broken faucet or dishwasher — if their landlord has failed to act after 14 days.
- The tenant can then deduct the repair cost from their rent: up to $500 or half their monthly bill, whichever is greater.
Between the lines: Minnesota tenants can address unmade pairs by filing a "rent escrow" case, often without an attorney's help.
- But only a handful of these cases are filed each year. Hanson said some tenants struggle to access the court system — and some need more immediate help.
- "If it goes into escrow, that's not a guarantee [maintenance issues are] going to change," he said. "If the money goes into the repair, no matter what, that home is going to be safer to live in."
Friction point: Critics in Duluth had raised concerns that the policy could put renters at legal or financial risk "if they pay for repairs that are later disputed by their landlords," MPR News reported.
Context: Hanson said organizers were inspired by a recent case where the City Council narrowly rejected an Ashland Avenue landlord's request for a 28.5% rent hike to cover repairs to units that, tenants said, had been falling apart for years.
What's next: St. Paul's "right-to-repair" campaign will begin collecting signatures on Jan. 27 and will have until June 1 to submit them.