Barring a political pirouette, the St. Paul City Council will tweak the city’s controversial rent stabilization policy next week. Led by Council Member Chris Tolbert, the changes add exceptions to rent increase limits for new apartments, craft new rules around vacant ones and clarify the role of inflation in setting rents.
When the news of the amendments broke, some advocates who had spent the preceding year campaigning for the city’s ordinance were outraged. Passed in November with 53% of the vote, the ordinance gave St. Paul the strictest rent stabilization rules in the country. The slate of changes from the City Council moves the city’s policy into closer alignment with rent stabilization policies in other cities and states.
I’m here to assure you that the proposed changes are not bad news for renters because the on-the-ground reality is more complicated than the campaign rhetoric. Housing policy is not a zero-sum game with opposing sides, winners, and losers. Essentially, the amendments keep the good parts of the ballot ordinance (even adding some new benefits, like just cause eviction protections) while shedding the provisions that have already caused disinvestment in St. Paul housing. I believe the policy changes, passed by a mostly 4-3 City Council majority, will lead to more flexible approach that will help people stay in their homes.
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