Last Wednesday, Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed the Pause Rent Eviction ordinance from the Minneapolis City Council, sparking controversy from council members trying to address the Surge’s impacts. 

The ordinance would have extended the eviction pre-filing notice from 30 days to 60 days, providing residents facing financial hardship as a result of Operation Metro Surge with some relief. 

Jessica Szuminski, a policy attorney at the Housing Justice Center, said evictions usually come when the resident has not paid their rent on time. Historically, the landlord has to send a 30-day notice to the resident that they must pay their rent. 

In a statement, Frey and other housing organizations said the time extension would not help residents with longstanding rental issues.

“Stopping evictions may sound good, but experience from COVID shows it’s not the answer: Rental assistance is,” Frey said in a statement. “Getting help to families quickly is the most effective way to prevent eviction, and that’s exactly what this investment does.” ​

The Housing Stability Coalition said in a statement extending the eviction order without proper rental assistance funds could lead to an increase in debt.

“Existing programs often require a court filing to trigger help and have maximum payment caps, a 60-day notice period would unintentionally disqualify some of the very people we are trying to keep in their homes,” the statement read. “We are grateful for the increased investments in rental assistance by the city council and the mayor—resources, not more time, is the solution to the current crisis harming so many of our neighbors.” 

In a joint statement from Council Member Robin Wonsley, Jamal Osman, Soren Stevenson, Jason Chavez, Aisha Chughtai and Aurin Chowdhury, the council members said the veto could lead to mass evictions. 

“Mayor Frey’s choice to prioritize landlord’s bottom line over thousands of residents facing housing instability illustrates that, despite his national media presence during Operation Metro Surge, the Mayor is more interested in the landlord lobby’s needs than the working people of Minneapolis,” the council members said in the statement. 

With the veto, Frey announced Hennepin County would give $1 million in rental assistance to renters.

In an interview, Osman (Ward 6) said he was disappointed in Frey’s decision.

“I think it was very important because we have been invaded by the federal government and we wanted to find a way to assist people that have been hit hard,” Osman said. “The additional 30-day extension will help them to stay housed.” 

At the Committee of the Whole meeting March 4, City Council Member Wonsley (Ward 2) said the extension would help alleviate the stress for rental assistance.

“We cannot expect that we will simply GoFundMe from a housing crisis or an eviction crisis,” Wonsley said. “The ordinance would help the government step up and help their neighbors from being unhoused.” ​

The City Council has until March 26 to override the veto, but Osman said he is not sure if there will be enough votes.

Emily Green, a Longfellow resident who set up a mutual aid fund for Minneapolis residents, said the funds cannot work forever.

“The money from the government is not enough,” Green said. “We need the extension of the eviction filing should be the bare minimum.” ​

Operation Metro Surge cost the city $203 million, reported The Minnesota Daily. Renters have been hit hard.

According to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, the average monthly rent debt among low-income households was ten times higher than the monthly budget for statewide rental assistance.

From HOME Line, a renters’ legal organization, they received 737 calls for financial assistance.

“This level of demand signals that renters are experiencing financial distress at rates comparable to, and in some aspects exceeding, peak pandemic conditions, but without the broad federal and state protections and financial supports that were in place at that time,” HOME Line said in a statement.

Szuminski argued the veto is a misunderstanding of what renters are going through. 

“The extra month really makes a difference,” Szuminski said. “A lot of rental assistance places, 30 days, just aren’t enough time to access every source of rental assistance and there’s also a lot of demand right now and people have been really impressive with mobilizing mutual aid funds but it’s just not enough, and people need more time to gather more funds.”