Twin Cities evictions have spiked again. Can Minnesota solve its housing crisis?

More than a year after the end of Minnesota's pandemic-era eviction moratorium, Twin Cities eviction cases are still surging at one of the fastest rates of any U.S. metro area.

Through the first nine months of 2023, Hennepin County eviction filings jumped 44% over the previous year, while Ramsey County evictions were up 25% in the same period. Nationally, the Twin Cities is second only to Las Vegas for the increase in eviction cases compared with the pandemic era, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, which tracks filings in 34 cities across the country.

The spike is driven by multiple factors: individual financial struggles made worse by inflation, a persistent lack of affordable housing and rising costs for developers looking to build affordable units.

To combat the trend, advocates and local leaders are rushing to intervene before tenants end up in court to help them find settlements to stay in their homes. And they now have some additional help: a $1 billion funding boost from the state Legislature, plus nearly $200 million in annual revenue from a new 0.25% metro sales tax that took effect Oct. 1.

Heather West, a domestic abuse survivor who faced eviction twice, said most people don't know what to do when they get an eviction notice. West now works with the Stable Housing is the Priority (SHiP) Collaborative, using her experiences to help others avoid losing their homes.

"It's a traumatic experience. You have to be ready to advocate for yourself," West said. "These processes are not user-friendly, but don't stop pushing for your right to have housing."

More than 15,000 evictions have been filed this year in Minnesota district courts. About one-third of those cases were filed in Hennepin County, which saw 708 eviction filings in September. That was the highest monthly total since immediately after the eviction moratorium was lifted in the summer of 2022.

Ramsey County cases also are on the rise, but so far, the county has not surpassed its earlier peak of 441 cases from June 2022. Other metro counties have seen smaller increases, while evictions in the rest of Minnesota are down slightly from last year.

Evictions can happen quickly in Minnesota, and tenants are often due in court within a week or two of getting notice. Advocates say cases are typically filed after tenants have missed two months rent.

Not every filing results in an eviction. In Hennepin County, which monitors cases via an online dashboard, about 42% of the cases filed in August resulted in someone being evicted. About 39% were settled some other way and 17% were dismissed.

Roughly 90% of eviction cases in Hennepin County are filed for nonpayment of rent. Rising costs due to inflation and other expenses leave low-income families no financial wiggle room.

"When life happens, the tire blows or there's a doctor's bill, you get behind," said Margaret Kaplan, president of the Housing Justice Center. "We do not have a system that is designed for low-income people to be safely and sustainably housed."

A lack of affordable housing forces low-income tenants to take whatever they can find, even if it is more expensive than their budget allows.

A recent Minnesota Housing Partnership survey found one in four Minnesota renters and one in 10 homeowners pay more than they can afford for housing.

All of Minnesota's 87 counties have shortages of highly affordable dwellings for low-income residents. High housing costs disproportionately impact households of color, who also have significantly lower rates of homeownership. Princeton's Eviction Lab recently published findings that, nationwide, Black children and families were most likely to face an eviction.

The lack of highly affordable housing is particularly stark in Minnesota's most populous counties; Hennepin and Ramsey counties collectively have a deficit of more than 50,000 affordable units.

An eviction can be a devastating experience. A home is lost and finding a new one can be a lot harder with an eviction on a tenant's record.

"It can be the beginning of a long cycle of decline," said Mikkel Beckmen, senior administrator for Hennepin County's housing stability department. Children can fall behind in school, health problems go untreated and family stress spikes, he said.

That's why county officials try to intervene quickly when an eviction case is filed, and ensure people have the resources and support to navigate a court system that can feel complex and intimidating.

In Hennepin County, low-income tenants can get a lawyer and guidance from Adult Representative Services, a relatively new program that began working on eviction cases in 2021.

Terrance Hendricks, the principal attorney leading the housing team, said legal guidance for tenants can mean the difference between losing a home and settling with a landlord. "You just want the process to be fair," Hendricks said.

Prior to the program, nonprofit groups struggled to represent a growing number of tenants. Now, roughly 90% have legal representation in housing court.

Ramsey County has used leftover pandemic aid and emergency rental assistance to help families catch up their rent and avoid eviction, said Keith Lattimore, the county's director of housing stability.

"We wanted to catch folks who were on the cusp of homelessness," Lattimore said. But the need continues to outpace the amount of aid available, a gap housing officials say is worsened by the growing shortage of affordable homes.

"It's not a county or city or state issue, it's a country issues," Lattimore said.

Even if they secure financial help, many people still struggle to find an available home.

Cecil Smith, president and CEO of the Minnesota Multi Housing Association, said the rising cost of insurance, property taxes and building operations is putting the squeeze on property owners who want to provide affordable units.

He's frustrated by the narrative that greedy landlords are driving up rents, saying it is one-sided and inaccurate.

"Why do we always characterize it that housing costs are too high, rather than that wages are too low?" Smith said.

Evictions are typically a last resort for property owners because they are expensive and almost always involve tenants who already owe back rent, Smith said. Minnesota has a low rate of eviction filings per unit with about 3% of the state's 620,000 rentals involved in a case last year, he said.

Smith is supportive of programs to settle cases before they make it to court, but says it doesn't address one of Minnesota's biggest housing challenges: the cost of creating and operating affordable housing.

Economic development officials in the metro are trying to do just that. Each year, tens of millions of dollars are earmarked to support affordable housing, typically through forgivable loans. Hennepin County hopes to add as many as 1,000 affordable units a year.

But even with subsidies and other support, Julia Welle Ayres, Hennepin County housing development and finance director, says it is tough to create housing that households earning 30% of the area's median income can afford.

"At that point we need permanent rental assistance," Welle Ayres said. "There really is a mismatch between the rising costs of things and stagnating incomes."

In May, the DFL-controlled Legislature approved a historic $1 billion housing budget with new funding for housing vouchers, affordable units and help for first-time home buyers.

Lawmakers also agreed to increase sales taxes in the metro starting Oct. 1 by a quarter cent to raise nearly $200 million a year. Half of those new taxes will go to counties, while cities get a quarter of the money and the rest goes to a state account for rental assistance.

Those funds will help Hennepin, Ramsey and other counties continue to intervene and help keep people in their homes or find affordable places to live.

Tenants have new protections, too. The Legislature approved a required 14-day written notice before an eviction for nonpayment of rent can be filed; it will be easier to have eviction cases expunged, and there will be more transparency of the fees tied to rentals.

Rep. Michael Howard, DFL-Richfield, who led the push in the House, says the new state money is already making a difference — but closing the gap between the growing need and number of available units will take more work.

"When you under-build for decades, it takes time to catch up," Howard said. "I think it takes an all-hands-on-deck approach. We don't want to be a region like San Francisco that missed their moment."