Collecting Signatures to get Rent Stabilization on the Ballot

St. Paul cannot allow annual rent increases to outpace the income growth of working and middle class households. 

Residential renters make up 50% of the residents of St Paul, however people in low- and medium-income households, and on fixed incomes, face a shortage of affordable rental units.

These daunting challenges are created in part by rental companies aggressively trying to maximize shareholder profits by charging more fees and raising more rents. On Memorial Day, National Public Radio aired this segment on the activities of Pretium Partners, a giant financial institution based in New York. They own at least two rental companies in the Twin Cities, Front Yard Residential and Havenbrook Homes, whose price-gouging fee practices were featured in a Star Tribune story on May 29, 2021.

In defiance of the national moratorium on eviction, Pretium and subsidiaries have been evicting renters – at a rate of 4 times more Black than White – across the country and throughout the pandemic in order to maximize their profits.

MICAH’s St. Paul Chapter is currently collecting signatures from registered St Paul voters on a petition to stabilize rent rates in our city, as part of a campaign initiated by the HENS Coalition (Housing Equity Now St Paul).

The petition asks,
“Should the City of Saint Paul establish an ordinance limiting rent increases on residential rental properties to 3% of existing monthly rent within a 12-month period?”

The purpose of the ordinance is to protect renters from unexpected increases in their rents that far exceed their budgets given their income levels. That said, the ordinance would also require the city to establish a process by which landlords can request exceptions based on the right to a reasonable return on investment.

The goal of the rent stabilization petition campaign is to collect, in a face-to-face signature process, 10,000 signatures by the end of June at the latest. As part of that, the St Paul chapter of MICAH has set a goal to collect 250 signatures by June 15.

If you would like to sign that petition, contact John Slade at john.jarvis.slade@gmail.com