On Thursday, March 12, residents from the city of Minneapolis demonstrated in the atrium of the Hennepin County Government Center downtown to protest Mayor Jacob Frey’s veto of the “Pause Evictions, Save Lives” ordinance passed by the City Council. (Photo by Amie Stager)
On Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed the “Pause Evictions, Save Lives” ordinance in what residents and organizers are calling an act of “betrayal.” The Minneapolis City Council passed the ordinance in a 7-5 vote on March 5. However, Frey announced on Wednesday he would be vetoing it. In response, around 100 members from renters’ organizations and communities gathered at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis where eviction cases are heard in court each week. They were calling on the City Council to veto the mayor’s veto at the next meeting scheduled for March 24.
“Just because the mayor is in the landlords’ pockets doesn’t mean you have to be,” said Farhan Badel, an organizer with tenant organization Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia, at a press conference on March 12. Badel said that after the press conference, the group planned to bring food to renters facing eviction.
According to Charlie Tirey, a member of Twin Cities Tenant Union, a delegation of tenants met with Mayor Frey to discuss the ordinance, which extends the pre-eviction notice period from 30 to 60 days. It is one measure that organizers say can prevent a looming eviction crisis.
“My heart breaks because when tenants become unhoused, what awaits them is severe policing, displacement, and eviction from public space,” said Tirey. “My heart breaks because eviction and homelessness expose people to sickness and trauma and death-dealing conditions. Every single eviction that will take place because of the occupation of our city is preventable.”
Flannery Clark, neighbor and organizer in South Minneapolis, spoke about the encampment sweeps that have been disrupting unhoused community members’ lives. “We can only assume that in 30 days, Jacob Frey’s police will be harassing our immigrant neighbors in the same way they harass our unhoused neighbors,” said Clark.
The mayor’s statement on Wednesday, in which he announced he would be vetoing the ordinance, included an announcement of a fund of one million dollars for rental assistance. However, organizers say that is not enough. According to a report by the city, there was a need for $15.7 million in rental assistance just for the month of January.
Frida Mercado read a statement from their neighbor Laura, a member of Sky Without Limits Cooperative in South Minneapolis, who says she and her husband are concerned about losing their home.
“My husband and I have been forced to stop working for two months for fear of being kidnapped,” Mercado read in Spanish. “We felt vulnerable, scared, frustrated, and angry about all the injustices we have been experiencing, but our greatest fear is that one of our children will be arrested just because of the color of their skin or how they look.”
Speakers pointed out that Mayor Frey recently moved to a house in South Minneapolis that, according to reporting from the Star Tribune, was listed at $700,000.
“Jacob Frey, who spent several months touring around the country, saying that he was fighting for Minneapolis. But what we didn’t know was he was fighting for Minneapolis landlords, not working class people,” said city council member Robin Wonsley, one of the authors of the ordinance.
Wonsley says that opponents are citing rent and eviction numbers that don’t accurately reflect the response to the ongoing situation caused by the federal occupation of Operation Metro Surge. The numbers don’t reflect that community members and organizations like tenant and labor unions have been raising funds for those who have been detained, sheltering in place, or unable to work.
“It was residents who raised tens of millions of dollars to keep their neighbors safe and housed,” said Wonsley.
On Wednesday, state lawmakers in the Minnesota Senate passed a bill providing $40 million in emergency rental relief statewide. However, even if that bill passes the House and is signed into law by Gov. Walz, residents won’t be able to access that relief until at least July.
On March 18, the St. Paul City Council will vote on an ordinance extending pre-eviction notices.
“Even when we are being met with fascist terror led by Trump, we at least had the hope that our local leaders would show up for us,” said Wonsley. “A veto on this does not mean we will stop caring for or protecting our neighbors.”