Minneapolis and St. Paul students, renters and young residents gathered at the state capitol on Tuesday, voicing disagreement towards newly introduced Republican-led legislation which would ban cities from putting rent limits before their voters.
Hannah Merrill is a Minneapolis resident and leader for the Young Adult Coalition, which organized Tuesday’s gathering. She says this has become about much more than just rent control.
“This isn’t about rent stabilization anymore. This is about who gets to have a say, who gets to decide. Is it going to be the will of the people or the wealthy, the few corporations?”
The legislation introduced last month in the Senate, is currently included in the Senate omnibus bill. Backdated to Nov. 1, 2021, the legislation would retroactively cancel out the ordinances passed by Minneapolis and St. Paul voters.
In St. Paul, voters approved one of the country's strictest ordinances, a 3 percent annual cap on rent increases. Voters in Minneapolis gave City Council permission to do the same, though council members have not agreed to enact price controls.
Democratic Senator Lindsey Port joined the group at the state capitol and said his Republican-led attempt circumvents the will of the people.
“Retroactively choosing to undo the votes of an election because we do not like the result spells the end of our democracy. It is a battle which is waging across our country, spurred on by the big lie of the 2020 presidential election and showing up here in a new, but no less harmful form.”
If it does make it out of the Republican-led Senate, Port hopes its chances of passing the House are slim, but that it will come at a price.
“The question is, how much will it cost to get it out? When it comes to negotiations like this, we are now going to have to trade as these negotiations do,” she said.
Proponents of the legislation point towards figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that show housing stats in St. Paul have plunged since November. They argue the controls would further restrict supply as developers would choose not to develop in the city.
St. Paul May Melvin Carter has pushed for a slightly different approach, asking the St. Paul City Council to pass an amendment that exempts new construction from the rent cap for 15 years. Buildings constructed in the past 15 years would also be eligible for a shorter time.