● Voted for major zoning reforms that allow for more housing to be built citywide. I ensured at least three-story multi-family housing could still be legal all along Marshall Avenue; voted to pass a series of zoning changes citywide that allow for more housing to be built near transit and commercial corridors; and voted to pass the 1-4 Unit Housing Study zoning changes that allow for more small scale “cluster” development, and legalize duplex, triplex and fourplex conversions.
● Expanded the inappropriate and outdated “definition of family” in city code to make it more reflective of modern households and accommodate more residents in existing homes. I voted to pass an updated Definition of Family citywide that allows up to six unrelated adults to live together and enables more people to be housed citywide within the relevant fire safety codes and other applicable regulations.
● Voted to pass the citywide ordinance allowing for residents to build backyard accessory dwelling units (ADUs). ADUs are now legal in Saint Paul, and we have to take more steps to make them widespread, including elimination of the owner-occupancy requirement and supporting residents in financing options to make these dwellings affordable to build.
● Supported the adoption of the Saint Paul 4(d) tax exemption housing program. Saint Paul’s 4(d) program allows participating landlords to receive a tax break in exchange for keeping rents affordable, and is a key piece of a larger strategy to ensure currently existing older housing can stay affordable.
● Created a new, first-ever $15 million city fund for affordable housing. Without significant local, state and federal funding for housing, Saint Paul residents, especially residents of color and those facing economic insecurity, risk losing their home and the opportunity to live a stable life in our city. I worked closely with Mayor Melvin Carter to develop the city’s first-ever Housing Trust Fund which is designed to produce, preserve, and protect housing, with a specific focus on funding deeply affordable homes.
● Championed record federal investment in deeply affordable housing, with a combined $74M investment from Saint Paul and Ramsey County. I voted to support dedicating a major portion of Saint Paul’s federal American Rescue Plan dollars to the creation of the 30% AMI Deeply Affordable Housing Fund. By expanding the supply of housing in Saint Paul for extremely low-income residents making less than 30% of the Area Median Income, we are making the most of these one-time Federal funds as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address a root cause of our housing crisis - the lack of deeply affordable housing for our residents with the lowest incomes. Combined with Ramsey County’s ARP funds, this initiative is building new deeply affordable homes across the city, and in Ward 4, we’ll welcome neighbors in 27 new homes affordable to families making 30% of the Area Median Income. Increasing the supply of deeply affordable housing is one of the most effective strategies in advancing racial justice in housing, as people of color are disproportionately the lowest wage-earners in our city.
● Expanded city funding for down payment assistance for Saint Paul families to allow more people to become first-time homeowners. I voted to increase the amount of funding we dedicate to low-income first-time homeowners to ensure pathways to homeownership with city support, which will help close our racial homeownership and wealth gap
● Funded the Rondo Community Land Trust to expand community land trusts in Saint Paul as a tool for community ownership and housing affordability. Community land trusts (CLTs) ensure housing affordability by allowing people to purchase a home at a lower price while the land trust (a non-profit or other similar organization) owns the land and guarantees affordability over time. CLTs are one of the most cost-effective homeownership strategies in the long-run, because a one-time investment in one piece of land benefits homeowners for generations to come without the need for additional investment. I voted to approve City of Saint Paul funding for this local initiative as a racial equity strategy.
● Led the fight in Saint Paul for renters’ rights through tenant protections and rent stabilization. In Saint Paul, half of our residents rent their homes, yet renters often live with a lack of power over decisions that impact their housing stability. As Councilwoman, I have been the tip of the spear at the Council in fighting for renter-first policies in Saint Paul.
○ I was the lead Councilmember sponsoring and passing the SAFE Housing tenant protections package, which provided tenants with relocation assistance and advance notice of sale if their building was being sold, reined in landlord discrimination through changing credit and criminal history criteria and created a just cause notice policy to curb arbitrary and abrupt lease terminations for our most vulnerable renters. I voted against the repeal of this policy after landlords sued the city to avoid compliance, and am working to bring a second round to ensure renters have additional rights and protections in Saint Paul.
○ Saint Paul made history and is still standing as the only city in the Upper Midwest with a community-led rent stabilization policy that provides protection against displacement for renters and predictability for property owners. I voted against numerous harmful changes to the policy, and brought some of my own amendments to ensure renters’ needs were at the center of policymaking. I am committed to restoring strong rent stabilization in Saint Paul, and continuing to learn from and improve the policy annually based on real data from implementation – not wealthy investor pushback.
● Ensuring a people-centered response to encampments. The pandemic made our housing crisis more visible as shelters closed and sharing space with others came with the risk of spreading COVID-19. Like other major cities across the country, Saint Paul saw encampments spring up as people sought places to stay.
○ Today, Saint Paul has a significantly more effective and humane approach to encampment response than any other city in the state – in large part because I worked very closely with leaders from multiple City departments to ensure a dignified, humane, collaborative response to encampments in Ward 4, and as much as possible elsewhere across Saint Paul.
○ I advised the creation and supported funding for what is now called Saint Paul’s HART (Homelessness Assistance Response Team), which focuses on connecting people to resources and providing tailored approaches to address individual needs while acting with compassion and respect. Residents can now contact HART to get trauma-informed, non-law-enforcement and non-judgmental support and resources for their unhoused neighbors, and/or if they are experiencing homelessness themselves.
○ I am committed to upholding this approach, improving with community feedback that puts our neighbors in need of permanent housing at the center with their full humanity, and funding more permanent and supportive housing options for people in partnership with the county.

PRESERVATION
● We need to expand community land trusts and community ownership models in Saint Paul to serve more areas of the city experiencing market pressure and rapid home value increases.
● Saint Paul is putting significant city funding into housing and doing its part on many needed reforms. We need our state legislature to step up and fund more deeply affordable new and existing housing in Saint Paul, from preserving existing older housing stock to ensuring newly built homes are deeply affordable.
● We need to continue funding and promoting the Rental Rehab Loan Program, which helps property owners in Saint Paul make needed improvements to their buildings, keep rents low and keep peoples’ homes in good condition.

PRODUCTION
● We need to continue building more housing at all income levels. Over the last four years, we’ve passed landmark zoning reforms that have made Saint Paul one of the best places in the state to build housing. We should work with our community to pursue major redevelopment opportunities like the Allianz/Snelling-Midway superblock, Luther Seminary, Sears Site, Hillcrest Golf Course, and other such sites, while also fostering the small-scale development citywide that is now possible because of our reforms.
● We need to eliminate single-family-only zoning in Saint Paul, period.
● We need to improve the ADU ordinance by eliminating the owner occupancy requirement and making it easier for residents to find financing to build ADUs.
● We need to help local leaders in our community become developers so that more projects in our city happen with the leadership of people who actually live here. The City of Saint Paul’s Developers of Color Program, funded and managed by the department of Planning and Economic Development, has helped nearly two dozen BIPOC community leaders learn the fundamentals of real estate and pursue redevelopment opportunities that help keep wealth local and reinvest into our city. We should continue to play a role in helping build up local community developers so that this industry reflects our actual communities.

PROTECTION
● We need to pass SAFE Housing 2.0 tenant protections and restore strong rent stabilization so that Saint Paul remains the best place to be a renter in the state of Minnesota.
○ An advance notice of sale policy paired with relocation assistance can help renters in buildings that get sold, flipped and/or “upscaled” receive funds to relocate and adequate time to do so. It can also discourage displacement by making it more possible for non-profit/affordable housing partners to purchase and renovate existing buildings for continued housing affordability.
○ A just cause notice policy ensures tenants have due notice and appropriate recourse if their tenancy is unfairly terminated by their landlord.
○ Screening criteria reforms can help ensure landlords don’t discriminate against tenants based on their credit, criminal or rental history - all factors which we know people of color are disadvantaged by through racism deeply embedded in our housing, finance and criminal justice systems.
○ Limits on security deposits and arbitrary fees can make the difference between someone being able to afford getting into their apartment or not.
○ Community education about tenant rights and responsibilities information in Saint Paul can improve communication in the landlord-tenant relationship, assist tenants in enforcing their rights, as well as help property owners know where to go if they need resources, too.
○ Our rent stabilization policy should not exclude renters in subsidized affordable housing, renters in buildings built in the last 20 years, or any renters in buildings about to be built without guaranteed strong tenant protections and anti-displacement policies in place for them (such as an advance notice of sale policy, guaranteed relocation assistance and other measures that ensure tenant stability). Everyone deserves stability in their housing, regardless of whether tax credits were used to build their home and regardless of the age of the structure they call home.
○ Our rent stabilization policy should not allow for vacancy decontrol; the unit should remain rent-stabilized whether a tenant is in it or not. Allowing the rent to be raised once the tenant leaves creates a perverse incentive for eviction, and cities with this policy experience aggressive or irresponsible landlord behavior that coerces tenants out of their homes so they can raise rents egregiously. We should not allow this predatory behavior in Saint Paul.
■ Other policies around the country have adopted a “preferential banking” adjustment which allows for modest accrued rent increases over time within limits; I would support the ability for rent increases to be deferred and used later if there was a reasonable cap on such increases so that tenants overall do not experience sudden rent hikes, and the core goal of the policy (rent stability) is maintained.
○ Our rent stabilization policy deserves fully funded implementation to receive appropriate enforcement and community education. I will advocate for stronger oversight and staffing through DSI, as well as the necessary funding to do this well.
○ We should evaluate our rent stabilization policy annually through a formal, evidence-based and comprehensive process, and make adjustments based on clear data in adherence to the voter-passed policy’s intentions – not based on political pushback, fear-mongering or speculation.
● We need to increase funding to the Department of Safety, Housing and Inspections for more inspectors so that we can better hold landlords accountable for property management and ensure tenants have access to this resource.