St. Paul city council president Mitra Jalali felt it was appropriate to talk about renters’ protection on March 1st.
“It’s the first of the month, and that means, for thousands of households in St. Paul, today the rent is due,” she said, standing huddled against the morning chill with about two-dozen renters. “And for many, they might not be able to afford it.”
Jalali’s comments also came three years after enactment of the St. Paul’s SAFE Housing Ordinance, which was ripped from the books not much later, following a landlord-driven lawsuit.
“We are fighting for no one at any point of the month - especially not on the first, or the 15th, or the last day – to fear that they would have to pack up all their possessions, and find somewhere that their children can sleep, away from the cold, that is safe and warm.
She called on Mayor Melvin Carter and her fellow council members, many of whom recently took the oath of office, to work with community leaders and others on a comprehensive housing policy with protections for renters.
“No matter who we are, or what we look like, all renters deserve to be treated with dignity and fairness,” said Myra Bolling-Smith, who rents a home in the city’s seventh ward that she says has fallen into disrepair because owners have changed so frequently.
“I literally didn’t have heating my building for days,” she said, recounting how families on New Year’s Day were inside that building but bundled up against the cold.
Jalali said she’s grateful that the community is not giving up hope.
“Candidly, we can’t afford to,” she said.