Minneapolis rent stabilization group pens open letter to Frey, Brennan

Dear Mayor Jacob Frey and Interim Director of Community Planning and Economic Development Andrea Brennan:

As you know, the majority of Minneapolis voters in 2021 chose to authorize the Minneapolis City Council to enact the Minneapolis Rent Control Ordinance. In June 2022, the City Council established a Housing/Rent Stabilization Working Group to study and make recommendations for a policy framework to address housing/rent stabilization. Twenty-five individuals representing a variety of viewpoints are appointed to this group, and met during the fall and early winter of 2022 to accomplish this mission.

We write as the members of the Working Group who each voted to support the only rent stabilization policy framework that emerged with majority support from this process. We are a diverse group – including renters, developers, tenant organizers, landlords and service providers who assist those experiencing housing instability. While we commend the work done to lead and facilitate the working group process, we are writing to express our concern about the subsequent processing of our work and recommendations.

As designated members of the Working Group, we have taken seriously the responsibility given to us and participated fully in the Working Group process. We spent three months researching and debating the housing market and a range of complex rent stabilization policy options. We attended ten meetings during daily business hours and spent many evenings reviewing materials and preparing for these meetings. Each of us participated in these discussions with an open mind, a genuine interest in learning from other working group members, and a desire to fully contribute our knowledge and perspectives. During this process, our first goal was to design a policy framework that would be best suited to Minneapolis’ complex housing market. After several months of diligent work and consideration of options, we each chose to vote for the policy recommendation we felt was best suited to the city’s needs. This policy framework, often called “Framework 5”, emerged as the majority recommendation of the working group, and was supported by 56% of its members.

After investing so much time and energy in the working group process, we were surprised and dismayed by the subsequent reactions to our work. Just hours after the working group issued its recommendation and the results of its vote, the mayor expressed his utter opposition to our recommendation. While we understand that not everyone will agree with our recommendation, we expected that a more thorough and in-depth review of our work would be required, particularly given the complexity of the policy issues involved, as well as the time and effort we invested in the process.

Recently, we were similarly appalled by the representation of working group decisions in the Rent Stabilization Working Group report. During the second meeting of the working group, members were informed by the facilitators that a policy framework receiving 51% or more of the group’s vote would be considered a “consensus” recommendation. Framework 5 was the only framework that reached the support threshold to be considered a “consensus” recommendation. However, the working group’s draft final report does not accurately reflect this decision. Instead of presenting Framework 5 as is – the only unanimously agreed recommendation – it is instead given treatment equivalent to a minority recommendation, a confusing and misleading representation that does not reflect clearly established decision-making criteria.

We have no regrets about investing our time and energy in the working group process and are honored to be able to contribute to the fees awarded to the City Council by Minneapolis voters on rent stabilization. However, we ask that our contributions and work be treated with respect and that our decisions be accurately reflected. We request that the Working Group’s report accurately reflect the decisions made by that body and clearly raise and identify Framework 5 as the only Framework recommendation that has majority support. We also request that more thoughtful consideration be given to the WG’s majority recommendation and the details it contains. We have strived to do our work in this process with diligence, thoughtfulness and an open spirit of cooperation. We ask that our actions and resulting recommendations be treated with the same spirit and open consideration.

We will be happy to continue to provide our knowledge and experience as the City continues to deliberate on its approach to rent stabilization. Please do not hesitate to contact us if our views or assistance would be helpful in any way in this process.

Thank you,

Rico Morales, Hennepin County Living Experience Advisory Group

Dan Sweeter, Homeline

Kedra Abdi, Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers

AsaleSol Young, Urban Homeworks

Maura Brown, Coalition for DC Stabilization

Jennifer Arnold, Tenants United for Justice

Marie Kaczurek, Legal Aid of Mid-Minnesota

Jose A. Zayas Cabane, the tenant

Peggy Clark, Minneapolis public housing tenant

Yolanda Roth, Owner

Jimmy Harris, The Tenant