North Minneapolis households deserve equal protection regarding condition of rental properties

Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

We are residents of north Minneapolis. We're homeowners and tenants, young professionals, retirees, nonprofit leaders, real estate agents, mail carriers and, most important, parents. We've lived in our neighborhood for as little as five years and up to four decades. We love north Minneapolis, which is why we're suing the city of Minneapolis to protect it from slumlords and a city unwilling to challenge them.

The city of Minneapolis has failed us. We live in and next door to dilapidated rental houses, properties that have been in shoddy condition for years. Despite our complaints, the city has failed to enforce its own housing codes against problem properties and their owners. The result has been blight for our neighborhoods and depressed property values, which are compounded by disproportionate violence and distress.

We've personally experienced everything from chronic mold, lead paint, and leaking showers and tubs to poor ventilation, cracked foundations and sagging roofs.

Our lawsuit isn't about money. We're just asking the court to order the city of Minneapolis to stop discriminating and enforce the law with the same level of respect, dignity and integrity that its Regulatory Services Department displays in other parts of the city.

North Minneapolis consists of the Fourth and Fifth Wards, which constitute about 16% of the city's total population. Yet, these two wards produce almost half of the city's Tier 2 and Tier 3 rental property complaints (residences that must be inspected annually or every five years, depending on past violations).

From 2018 to 2023, the Fourth and Fifth Wards had more than 4,629 rental housing complaints, compared with fewer than 500 in the 11th, 12th and 13th. In all, north Minneapolis residents see one complaint for roughly every 15 citizens, while one complaint arises for every 200 people in south Minneapolis.

Despite this stark disparity, the city of Minneapolis assigns housing inspectors in proportion to population. As a result, the 11th, 12th and 13th Wards are served by nearly 30% of the city's inspectors. Meanwhile, the Fourth and Fifth Wards, where more than half of rental housing complaints arise, have less than a quarter of the city's total inspectors.

We simply ask that City Hall put its resources where the need is greatest by assigning half of the city's housing inspectors to the Fourth and Fifth Wards.

It may not surprise readers familiar with the city's housing enforcement that it also divides along racial lines. Renters make up almost 43% of North Side households. Of those renters, 72% are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. In the prosperous wards of south Minneapolis that get a disproportionate share of inspectors, 26% of households are renters and only 25% of those renters are BIPOC. Minority renters in north Minneapolis are simply not getting the same fair shake as renters elsewhere in the city.

If you ask the city, you'll be told that roughly 85% of complaints are resolved successfully, including in our neighborhood. We know better. Time and again, our complaints are marked "resolved" despite there being no change in the problem that precipitated the complaint in the first place. Problems arising from housing code complaints in our neck of the woods are rarely if ever addressed. A click of the button doesn't resolve complaints; we wish it were that easy.

We are not asking for a lot from our beloved city in this lawsuit, but it's beyond time to address the blight and make our rental homes and neighborhoods habitable once again. With equitable housing code enforcement, north Minneapolis neighborhoods have the potential to be every bit as livable, prosperous and safe as more affluent areas of the city.