Writer: Siena Iwasaki Milbauer
It can be hard to feel part of community when you can’t physically be in community. However, organizations are stepping up to provide opportunities to connect virtually. To celebrate the wealth of online events out there, and to make content from these events accessible to folks who may not be able to virtually attend, AAOP is recapping 1-3 online opportunities each month! You can see our past and future recaps at http://aaopmn.org/tag/virtual-event-recap/
On April 28, HENS (Housing Equity Now St. Paul) hosted a virtual Rent Stabilization Forum to raise awareness of rent stabilization efforts in St. Paul, and to provide space for community members to share their stories. HENS is a coalition of organizations and individuals working for housing equality in St. Paul, so that all community members can have access to safe and affordable housing.
The event began with community participants talking about what home meant to them. Words that came up a lot included “comfort”, “safety”, “family”, “security”, and “everything.”
For too long, discussions around housing have focused almost entirely on money. They have centered landlords’ perspectives and business goals, and reduced housing to an economic decision. Of course, money is an important part of housing, because affordability is a crucial part of making housing available to all our community members. But housing is so much more than a financial investment.
Housing means home, and equitable housing in our communities means justice.
Many of our communities have been plagued by racist and classist housing practices for generations, such as redlining. These prejudiced ways of building our communities were intentional, so our solutions have to be intentional as well.
Fighting for rent stabilization is one of those intentional solutions. The majority of St. Paul renters are people of color. At least 59% of St. Paul renters earn less than their area’s median income, and 39% of renters are paying more than half their income for housing. By pushing against anti-renter housing stereotypes, and helping to create affordable housing opportunities for all renters, we can make housing more just and our communities more equitable.
HENS is currently leading the “Keep St. Paul Home Campaign”, which is working to get a rent stabilization measure on the ballot so that St. Paul residents can vote to decide their own futures. You can find and read the proposed ordinance here. If passed, the ordinance will limit rent increases per year, and put in place vital protections for St. Paul renters.
Creating affordable housing for all is a crucial part of our intersectional fight for liberation. As event moderator Betsy Mowry Voss of SECO (Southeast Community Organization) put it “I think that sometimes it’s forgotten that home is that sense of safety and security that we rely on as a building block to make all of our lives better.”
Sources:
Gross, Terry, “A ‘Forgotten History’ of How the U.S Government Segregated America”, NPR, 3 May 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america. Accessed 29 Apr. 2021.
HENS, “What is rent stabilization?”, HENS, 2021, https://www.housingequitystp.org/what. Accessed 29 Apr. 2021.
Photo credit: HENS, @housingequitystp on Instagram
Special thanks to HENS for allowing AAOP to attend and recap this event!
Learn more about HENS and get involved in the fight for equal housing for all in St. Paul at https://www.housingequitystp.org/ and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
& if you are a Minneapolis resident, rent stabilization efforts are happening in your city too! VIsit https://mpls4rentcontrol.or to learn more.
