I am a resident of Robbinsdale or I work in Robbinsdale. I support the City Council in addressing concerns about inequitable impacts of Robbinsdale’s current rental housing laws relating to “Crime Free/Drug Free” lease and eviction requirements, and  repeat nuisance call service fees and evictions. However, I am concerned that the proposed changes being considered for adoption do not go far enough to address the negative and disproportionate impacts on Robbinsdale residents who are renters compared to residents that own their own homes. Many (about 34%) Robbinsdale families are renters and deserve to have this issue looked at in depth. Renters in Minnesota are more likely to be low-income, and to be Black, Latino, Asian, Indigenous, or a person of color, so laws that negatively impact renters are more likely to have negative impacts for these community members.  I understand that some positive changes are being considered, but this is not enough.

I support the removal of the crime free lease and eviction requirements that give the police and city additional power and discretion to evict tenants or to require landlords to evict them in certain circumstances, in addition to the landlord's existing power to evict a tenant.

Although some progress has been made, I am concerned that:

1) the proposed amended language continues to give law enforcement broad power and discretion to decide whether a person who rents their home should be evicted or not through the nuisance service calls fee system, while people who own their homes are not at risk for eviction in the same situation. 

2) the study of these laws and their impacts that the City Council requested has not yet been completed.

Before any final decisions are made, we call on the city to:

1) further study the laws and their impacts on citizens.

2) establish a multi-disciplinary advisory committee that is made up of people who represent key interests or sectors (renters, landlords, homeowners, educators, social workers, community based organizations, city staff, etc.) and who are representative of Robbinsdale's diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, LGBQT, and socioeconomic status, to inform the amendment process and help ensure it is done in an equitable way and in a way that is more likely to advance equitable outcomes.