Duluth renters prevail in campaign to address delayed home repairs – Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — Renters gained some new muscle, as a right-to-repair referendum sailed to victory Tuesday evening.

Although election results available as of publication were not yet official, they showed 12,549 voters cast ballots in support of the new renters’ rights proposal — more than double the 5,666 voters who cast ballots in opposition. That equates to nearly a 70% approval rate.

The new ordinance will provide renters with the right to move ahead with minor repairs to their homes if a landlord fails to respond to a request for standard maintenance within 14 days. Those repairs would be limited in scope to a maximum of $500 or half of a tenant’s monthly rent — whichever amount is greater.

Tenants would be empowered to hire licensed tradespeople to make needed repairs and could then seek reimbursement from their landlord or reduce their next month’s rent to reflect the cost.

Chloe Holloway, a renter and member of Duluth Tenants, the grassroots organization that pushed to bring the referendum forward, said the resounding results made her feel “ecstatic.”

Duluth Tenants collected nearly 6,000 signatures on a petition to bring the referendum to a vote, and then 153 volunteers knocked on more than 22,000 doors to rally support. Holloway said she personally visited about 3,000 doorsteps.

“This is a simple, common-sense way to get the repairs we need made when they were not getting done before,” she said.

For Holloway, the issue hits close to home. She described her own experience with a leak in her pantry that she reported to her landlord when it was relatively small. But after repeated requests, the issue went unaddressed for six months, during which time the ceiling grew moldy, resulting in emotional and physical distress, including congestion and trouble breathing.

One day, while she was trying to scrub away some of the mold, the ceiling gave way. Only then did her landlord decide to commence repairs.

“If something like that happens now, the right-to-repair ordinance would help me get the problem addressed much sooner,” Holloway said.

But Barb Montee, a local landlord, remains skepical. She suggested renters would be better served to work within robust preexisting protections, including recently passed city resolutions requiring landlords to undergo training and address any needed repairs in a timely fashion or else face vigorous enforcement, including higher fines.

She warned that the referendum could actually put tenants at greater risk of eviction or other unintended legal consequences.

“This is not the tool renters need. It’s more like a blowtorch,” Montee said.

In passing the measure, Duluth is poised to become the first city in Minnesota to enact a right-to-repair policy.

But similar ordinances have been enforced in other jurisdictions, including more than 30 states and cities across the nation.

Nearly 40% of Duluth’s housing inventory consists of rental properties.

Peter Passi covers city and county government for the Duluth News Tribune. He joined the paper in April 2000, initially as a business reporter but has worked a number of beats through the years.