Minneapolis will create a work group of landlords, tenants and others to develop rent control policies that could go before voters.
City Council members approved a proposal Thursday that creates an advisory group to study and make recommendations that will be included in a policy that protects tenants from displacement, holds landlords accountable and bolsters the city's 2040 plan.
"I am convinced that we need a process to engage key stakeholders in this work," said Council President Andrea Jenkins, who introduced the proposal.
"We need to proceed with haste, but we must be deliberate," Jenkins said, promising a transparent, accessible process. "We must act with the best long-term interests of our entire community, not just react to certain parts of our community."
The 25-member group will be made up of renters, landlords, developers and organizations, including some whose work is focused on tenant advocacy and legal support. It will be tasked with analyzing the impacts of rent control and the costs of implementing the policy. A dozen of the committee members — six renters and six landlords and developers — will be appointed by the mayor and council.
In November, Minneapolis voters passed a proposal that gave the City Council the power to enact its own rent-control ordinance or put the policy before voters in an election. The work group must submit a final report to the council by the end of the year. The council will then draft a ballot question for the 2023 election.
The rent control work group is expected to play a crucial role that previously would have been handled by city staff. After voters in November approved a shift in the power balance at City Hall, the staffers the council previously relied on to study different potential ordinances now report directly to Mayor Jacob Frey.
Frey opposes rent control, and the council would need nine votes to override any veto.
