Money to help people pay rent would flow to Minnesota counties and tribal governments under an emergency relief proposal set for a Senate floor vote on Wednesday.
The proposal would redirect unused funds from a court settlement dealing with tax-forfeited lands. The state created a fund after the United States Supreme Court sided with a 94-year old Minneapolis woman who said her home was improperly seized because she owed taxes on it. The state fund was designated to compensate other people who lost property in similar circumstances.
Democrats say roughly $40 million of that funding could help cover rent costs for people who were afraid to leave home during the surge of federal immigration enforcement actions over the last several months, as well as those struggling with higher prices.
It would also temporarily extend the timeframe to correct delinquent rent.
The bill’s sponsors said the available money wouldn’t fully cover the cost of missed rent payments during the federal surge operation but that it could help make a dent. Estimates on just how broad the impact was to renters and landlords vary. Local governments and mutual aid organizations approved new emergency funding and crowdfunded to cover some of the costs.
“It is not one single thing that brought us to an eviction crisis. It is a combination of policy choices that have stretched Minnesotans so thin that they are struggling,” Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week.
“Certainly, the metro surge, the presence of ICE agents here in the metro and now across Minnesota, has had a significant impact as well, and we know that the fear and terror that exists in our communities is very real,” she continued.
Emergency funding allocations would be based on the existing formula for Local Homeless Prevention Aid. If approved, it wouldn’t require lawmakers to tap new funding streams. That could be a key selling point as lawmakers grapple with dozens of asks and limited financial resources to spread around this year.
Democrats on the Senate finance panel voted to advance the bill while Republicans opposed it, raising concerns about people receiving the funding who aren’t authorized to live in the United States. They also raised concerns about fraud.
It’s likely to pass the DFL-led Senate but could face a steeper climb in the tied House of Representatives. GOP leaders in that chamber have said they’re not willing to support it.
“When we have other things that are popping up, assistance due to people making choices to either not go to work or do other things, there is not an appetite in the House Republican Caucus for that,” House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said on Tuesday.
With the House of Representatives in a tie, any measure needs bipartisan backing to pass through committee and off of the floor. The House companion bill is due up for a vote in the House Housing Finance and Policy Committee Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m.
