Housing Justice Center

04/27/2026

The Housing Justice Center joined the National Housing Law Project (NHLP) and HOME Line to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in support of three Minnesota tenants suing a debt collection lawsuit mill over unfair debt collection practices, including inflating the amount of rent that tenants owed in an eviction case.

The amici asks that the Court of Appeals reverse the grant of summary judgment, remand for further proceedings, and hold the LLC to the highest standards under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Read the full amicus brief:

04/23/2026

04/15/2026

Join the Housing Justice League next Tuesday, April 21st, from 6-8pm to learn more about the Eviction timeline and process.

Minneapolis’ March 2026 eviction filing rates are up 60.3% compared to March 2025.

This event is for mutual aid organizers, rapid response networks, impacted community leaders, educators, social workers, advocates, and tenant leaders to:

🔍Bring more clarity to understanding the eviction process and timelines

💪🏾 Raise awareness of the agency tenants have to intervene in the process

⚖️ Give emergent organizing networks and leaders the legal information to create strategies for eviction response and broad information sharing

We aim to give a legal overview of the eviction process, share resources for eviction defense, and arm advocates with the knowledge needed to keep neighbors housed and combat mass displacement.

Register to receive more info, including event location: https://actionnetwork.org/events/community-eviction-response

04/08/2026

One of the Minnesota legislative bills now signed into law helps supportive housing providers stay open in 2026 with an infusion of $9 million, to make up for some of the funds lost from the federal government. We unpack why this is one of several important housing bills being discussed for the stat

04/03/2026

Too many Minnesotans are struggling to find a home they can afford - young people can’t find a home in the community where they grew up, and local workers can’t find a home near their jobs. The Legislature has the power to change this by passing the Minnesota Starter Homes Act to allow more homes and more choices in the communities where people already live. Contact your legislator and Speaker Demuth today and urge them to say

Take Action TODAY: Outreach to Legislators Leading Up to Next Committee Stop Yes to Homes! has been busy at the State Capitol the last few weeks. We’re a large and diverse coalition united around the common goal of creating statewide housing policy focused on meaningfully increasing the variety an...

03/20/2026

We’re hiring our next Executive Director.

Housing Justice Center is taking an important step forward.

With strong interim leadership helping to stabilize and strengthen our foundation, we’re ready to begin the search for our next Executive Director, while continuing to grow our team and expand our impact.

This is an opportunity to lead a mission-driven organization at a moment of real momentum, as we work to advance housing justice across Minnesota.

👉 Learn more and apply at https://jobs.minnesotanonprofits.org/job/executive-director-saint-paul-minnesota-107127

And if this role isn’t for you, we’d greatly appreciate you sharing this with your networks to help us find the right leader.

03/16/2026

03/13/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mayor Frey Abandons Tenants: Renters, businesses, and advocates urge City Council to overturn veto and protect residents from eviction with temporary ordinance

March 11, 2026

MINNEAPOLIS — Today, Mayor Frey abandoned tenants, small business owners, and community advocates by vetoing a measure designed to stabilize economic turmoil across the city through a temporary eviction pause ordinance. The Pause Evictions, Save Lives ordinance would have temporarily extended eviction pre-filing notice by 30 days, giving renters critical time to access rental assistance and other resources they need to stabilize their households, in the face of significant economic disruption.

“We are deeply disappointed today to see Mayor Frey allow our neighbors, community members, and the city to suffer,” said Jess Zarik, Co-Executive Director at HOME Line. “While our immigrant neighbors are experiencing the sharpest harm, the ripple effects of this crisis are reaching far beyond any one group. People are skipping work. Parents are keeping children home from school. The economic shock of this crisis will not stay contained unless we take action. Instead, it will ripple outward to workers, tenants, landlords, and entire neighborhoods.”

“As Mayor Frey signs this veto, families' lives continue to be destroyed through disruptive and unnecessary evictions,” said Juan Luis Rivera-Reyes, Coalition Organizer at The Alliance and co-facilitator of the Housing Justice League. “Residents have lost millions in wages, business owners have lost millions in potential revenue, employees aren’t being paid, yet rent was due last Sunday. Now, Mayor Frey has denied communities the time for critical rental assistance to reach the people who need it.”

“The human toll of this is immense. Research has shown that the education deficits that a child faces from eviction can follow them for their life; eviction causes health effects,” said David Suitor, a housing attorney in Minneapolis. “A study from Rice University in Texas showed that evictions cost not only the tenant and the landlord, they cost the public and private sector thousands of dollars.” The Pause Evictions, Save Lives ordinance would not have decreased or cancelled rents; it would have given tenants a better chance of being able to pay.

The Housing Justice League urges the City Council to vote to override Mayor Frey’s veto and ensure our community can recover from this disruption. Rent assistance is a proven strategy to address eviction and its social and economic harms, but the assistance available does not go far enough and will not move fast enough to prevent the devastating wave of evictions we are facing. . .

The Housing Justice League is a group of community organizations advocating for policy change and building grassroots support for housing justice in Minneapolis. Learn more at https://thealliancetc.org/pause-evictions-save-lives

03/06/2026

HJC is now hiring a Special Counsel for Federal Response to identify and lead on areas where legal advocacy could effectively impact the housing system in Minnesota in response to a changing policy, legal, and financial federal landscape.

This newly created position will provide legal analysis of the changing federal landscape and its impact on affordable housing in Minnesota, and coordinate with national and local legal organizations to develop and advocate for systemic policy initiatives. The Special Counsel for Federal Response will develop and pursue impact litigation in response to federal actions and identify paths to bolster state law and policy in response to federal changes.

Apply today through our job board: https://lnkd.in/gHx6sWBP