WC Minnesota News

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz passed an executive order that banned evictions until April 30 to help Minnesota residents during the financial crisis of COVID-19, but the order won't prevent evictions due to the pandemic in the long run. 

Once April 30 comes around, landlords can begin filing for evictions, the Housing Finance Agency said. But a coalition of housing advocates and landlords decided to ask lawmakers for a $100 million fund to help low-income households pay their rent, which would help these families avoid evictions. 

While Walz was trying to help renters, Rep. Mike Howard said the executive order won't stop evictions from happening. 

“It really puts both renters and landlords in a challenging spot,” he told the Minnesota Post. “If folks aren’t able to afford their rent, they could potentially fall behind and be in a difficult financial situation in the future. And if too many folks are in that situation, then landlords, especially smaller landlords, will find themselves in challenging positions to pay their mortgage. This is going to start to become an issue on April 1, and it will be magnified by May 1.”

But Sen. Torrey Westrom said the Senate is working on providing relief to renters who lack the funds to pay rent due to the financial crisis. 

“COVID-19 should not cause someone to lose their home, whether they rent or own. We’re working on a comprehensive bill that includes the appropriate temporary funding to support those tenants and landlords who have been impacted by this emergency and need help the most right now," Westrom said in a statement. "This pandemic is stressful enough for everyone. We want to be sure there is clarity for both renters and property owners on the expectations and protections they have during the peacetime emergency. We also need to ensure these funds are used to help those most in need and that there are sufficient guardrails to avoid fraud or misuse of funds."

The $2.2 trillion federal COVID-19 relief package does allocate money from rental assistance and public housing, which makes some lawmakers question whether the state should help these low-income households pay their rent during the pandemic. 

But Ryan Baumtrog, assistant commissioner of the state Housing Finance Agency, said the money from the federal relief fund appears to be helping two groups of people that are already receiving aid and not the low-income households. And low-income households are going to significantly need funding during this difficult financial time. 

“Minnesotans need emergency relief now," Westrom said in his statement. "Tenants or homeowners not impacted by COVID-19 need to fulfill their obligations to pay rent or make mortgage payments on time so scarce resources can be used to give meaningful assistance to those impacted by this unprecedented emergency.”