Lawsuit: North Minneapolis residents claim discrimination in unfair housing code enforcement by the city

A group of current and former north Minneapolis residents sued the city on Tuesday, claiming the government discriminated against them by inequitably enforcing the municipal housing code.

Eight people represented by the law firm Dorsey & Whitney, including former City Council and school board member Don Samuels, brought the action against Minneapolis in Hennepin County District Court to try to force the city to assign more housing code inspectors to the North Side, where residents have long complained of landlords who allow their properties to fall into disrepair with little consequence.

"Despite the issues with predatory landlords in north Minneapolis being widely known, the City of Minneapolis has consistently failed to take action," the suit said.

The plaintiffs include renters who allege the city failed to crack down on landlords even as residents reported lead paint, leaks, electrical problems and mold that sickened their children.

A postal carrier who delivers mail in north Minneapolis claimed the city never responded to numerous complaints of housing code violations he found along his route: homes without doorknobs, garbage filling halls and yards, vacant units strewn with trash and crumbling stairs. A homeowner said in the suit that he lives next to a crack house where the surroundings are littered with used needles, bullet casings and stolen cars. The city closed out his complaints even as the violations persisted.

"To come across a landlord that isn't abusive or playing the system in north Minneapolis is rare," plaintiff Arianna Anderson said. "I know the city of Minneapolis can do better. I know the funding is there. … It's just a matter of bringing attention to the situation."

The plaintiffs claim the city is violating the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing and public services because of someone's race and other protected classes. Most rental properties on the North Side are inhabited by low-income people of color. The group is not demanding a financial settlement; it is seeking a court action requiring the city to enforce the housing code.

A Minneapolis spokesperson said Tuesday: "The City is reviewing the complaint."

The plaintiffs' attorney, Ben Kappelman, noted that the Minnesota Attorney General's Office has brought actions against landlords after they've committed hundreds of code violations.

"That just demonstrates that something is wrong when it gets to that level before something happens," Kappelman said. "Rather than waiting for the attorney general to go after the really bad actors, you've got to stop these people from amassing all those violations in the first place."

Anderson, a mother of five, said she called the city dozens of times while renting a house on Colfax Avenue North to report problems that the landlord didn't fix. Water damaged walls and ceilings and black mold formed, causing her children to suffer from illness and asthma attacks, she said. The sink leaked all over the kitchen. The foundation cracked. Bees formed a nest in the walls, with about 100 of them swarming inside at one point, she said. After she grew concerned about lead paint, a city employee conducted an inspection that Anderson said was only cursory; a complete check years later revealed lead paint throughout the home.

Anderson alleged that a city employee voiced concern about numerous housing code violations during a virtual walkthrough of her home in 2020 and later followed up with an in-person check. But the case was transferred to a different employee who was less attentive.

Her landlord agreed to pay Anderson $9,406, make repairs and relocate her in 2022 after she took the company to housing court.

Anderson had tried to move to another home in the area with her Section 8 voucher but said nearly all affordable places in north Minneapolis were just as bad or worse. She finally moved to Crystal and transferred her children to the schools there but noted the toll that shoddy housing had on their sleep, their education and the attention she could give them as she fought for better living conditions.

Now, Anderson maintains that further improvement won't be possible without better housing enforcement from the city.

"I joined this lawsuit because I really want to see consistency from the city and I want a healthier community," Anderson said. "And I know the citizens have to do their part. … You have to be a good tenant. But we need the city to do its job."

The city has long had a 311 line for people to report housing code violations. Plaintiffs calculated that in the two wards representing north Minneapolis, there were 4,629 complaints in a recent five-year period about the types of rental properties that must be inspected annually or every five years based on past violations. That area — where most renters are people of color — has just 16% of the city's residents but accounts for 45% of complaints at such properties.

The suit says that roughly seven inspectors are assigned to north Minneapolis from a total pool of 30 district-based inspectors (excluding inspectors who work citywide). That's about the same number of inspectors as three wealthier, whiter wards covering south Minneapolis, which has 25 % of the city population and just 495 complaints for the same period — less than 5% of total complaints.

The lawsuit says that the assignment of inspectors does not mirror inspection demands.

While attorneys found that 85 % of complaints were resolved across the city, the plaintiffs described their complaints going unanswered and marked as resolved despite landlords making no changes or code enforcers taking action.

Plaintiff Debra Wagner, a Realtor, alleged that she has lost sales due to the dilapidated nature of the neighborhood surrounding the houses she showed, and that her business has been affected due to lower property values based on the city's failure to address code violations. Her husband, Dennis Wagner, another plaintiff, claimed that he's made hundreds of complaints about problem properties to the city using 311, but that most of the time there's no response or the city closes the complaint without evidence of taking action.

The Wagners, who have lived in their Jordan neighborhood home since 1984, pointed out poorly kept properties on a recent walk there. Homes with junk cars sitting out back. A house sitting vacant for years, the yard overrun with tall weeds. An empty lot with a demolished property and the half-finished framework of a garage, strewn with abandoned materials. Windows knocked out.

Dennis Wagner noted a residence with truck bodies and trailers strewn about the lawn, one that he had called 311 about last spring.

"I see not much has changed," he said.

In addition to former school board member Samuels, who is a longtime critic of North Side slumlords, his neighbor Juliee Oden is also suing. They were among eight north Minneapolis residents who sued the city in 2020 demanding that it hire more cops as crime surged and hundreds of officers left after the police killing of George Floyd. The Minnesota Supreme Court largely sided with the plaintiffs, ordering the city to employ at least 731 officers.