Rent Control Showdown in Minnesota

"Minnesota Senate Republicans have backed off a previous demand that would have prohibited Minneapolis and St. Paul from enacting rent control as both cities look to put the issue before voters this November," reports J. Patrick Collican.

An earlier article by Max Nesterak details the efforts by St. Paul residents to get rent stabilization legislation on the November 2021 ballot that would cap annual rent increases at 3 percent for all rental units in the city.

Yet another article by Solomon Gustavo details the charter amendments that request permission to implement rent control in that city: "[T]he charter amendments are there to satisfy the exception in Minnesota’s rent control law, which says that charter cities in the state can engage in 'controlling rent on private residential property' only if 'the ordinance, charter amendment, or law that controls rents is approved in a general election.'"

By ditching their effort to preempt rent control in the Twin Cities, Republicans in the state legislature are making a major concession in negotiations for a "pandemic off-ramp" bill that would set the state's recovery and reopening path, according to Collican. Details of the pandemic off-ramp bill include the thorny issues of how to end the state's eviction moratorium and how to apportion housing construction bonds.

"The Senate wants the eviction lifted 105 days after the bill is signed, while the House wants 135 days," according to Collican.