Inside Minnesotans' moonshot to cover rent for their immigrant neighbors

On a recent weekday morning as Ashley Fairbanks sat in a salon chair getting her hair done, she put out a call to her 49,000 followers on BlueSky: Twelve families needed their rent paid, urgently.

There was no time for fundraisers or applications for emergency rental assistance; they needed the money now. If anyone had the means to help, she said, they could send money directly to families through Venmo.

Two hours later, those families had their rent paid. Twelve hours later, 43 families had been helped. The trend caught on: Others on social media took up the challenge and launched their own successful campaigns.

Despite talk of a drawdown, the ongoing presence of ICE and other federal law enforcement officers continues to compel thousands of immigrants to stay in their homes and out of work.

Even without work, rent is still due

Still, rent is due. Many, including the Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils, have called on Gov. Tim Walz to implement an eviction moratorium, which would allow more time for residents to come up with the necessary cash. But even as people like Fairbanks raise thousands of dollars, local leaders and immigrant activists know the need is far greater.

Some compare it to the need for rent relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the federal government pitched in, providing Minnesota with $673 million for emergency rental assistance on top of $100 million provided through state funds.

Jessica Mathias, executive director of Open Your Heart To The Hungry And Homeless, is using a COVID-era playbook to meet the current moment. During the pandemic, her organization quickly raised funds to assist renters in need. Today, Mathias and her team are managing funds from existing fundraisers as well as organizing their own rent relief, prioritizing households with children and those at immediate risk of eviction.

''Minnesota is a very generous state,'' Mathias said. After opening up applications for assistance on Jan. 28, she said the first round of rent relief reached 12 households within a week.

The current crisis is a reminder, she said, of how many people are one paycheck away from losing their housing, particularly those without a safety net of friends or family. For anyone who is able to help, she said, ''I think it's our calling to be able to do so.''

‘It's not sustainable'

Fairbanks, a former Minneapolitan who now lives in Texas, says she's ''just a lady with a website.'' But that website, Stand With Minnesota, has had 2 million hits since she created it about two weeks ago.

Fairbanks has taken a special interest in those, noting that as larger funders begin the slow work of processing applications, the need for rental assistance continues to grow — especially as residents approach the period when the eviction process can begin.

Both the response to her website and what she's started to call the ''adopt-a-rent'' campaign have been inspirational, she said — and evidence that elected officials need to step up with more robust efforts.

''It's not sustainable,'' Fairbanks said. ''People are maxing out their credit cards and emptying their savings accounts to pay other people's rent.''

Yusra Murad, an organizer with United Renters for Justice, said many Minnesota renters faced challenges even before Operation Metro Surge.

Nearly half of the state's renters are housing cost-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their income for housing. And those figures are higher for immigrants and people of color. When those same renters feel unsafe going to work, the upshot is a crisis unfolding indoors — one that's less visible than arrests and detentions on the streets, but still deeply unnerving.

''I still know that it's not enough,'' Murad said. ''It's not enough even for the month of February.''

She mentioned one fundraiser that had raised $200,000, focused solely on a community centered around a school. ''It was gone within the first two days of February,'' Murad said.

‘A drop in the bucket' on rent

On Feb. 5, the Minneapolis City Council approved sending $1 million in funds to Hennepin County to support one-time rental assistance, but only after a grueling two-hour discussion on the topic that saw two failed votes regarding where to find the money.

Council member Aisha Chughtai said the funds would help about 250 families, calling it ''a drop in the bucket.''

How great is the need? It's a tough question and one that cities ask regularly to determine appropriate budgets, said Nick Graetz, a sociology professor at the University of Minnesota.

Graetz reiterated that while the work of mutual aid groups is inspiring, ''we need to be serious about the scale of need.''

A 2025 report from Minnesota Housing found that the estimated annual cost of meeting emergency assistance just for the state's low-income households is $350 million.

The report notes dispassionately that the $28 million available to such households through the state's Emergency Assistance, Emergency General Assistance and the Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance programs will ''fall short.''

And those are rough estimates for one segment of the population, under significantly different circumstances.

''Every single avenue that could possibly keep a family housed is worth pursuing,'' Murad said.

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