Minnesotans Should Have the Right to Renew Our Leases
From rural Minnesota, to the suburbs and the cities, all Minnesotans should have the right to renew their lease if they haven’t violated its terms.
Right to Renew, also known as Just Cause, defines the legal reasons for lease nonrenewals and evictions, and provides a reasonable amount of time for relocation.It protects against arbitrary and unjust evictions and lease nonrenewals, and prohibits terminating a lease in retaliation for exercising our rights.
The Equity In Place coalition calls on Minnesota Legislators to pass Just Cause eviction protections (HF997 / SF1671) to help keep Minnesotans housed.
For too long, corporate developers and predatory landlords have put profits over people, displacing renters:
Leases are terminated without just cause,
Renters who raise their voices about living conditions face retaliatory lease nonrenewals
Long-term tenants get pushed out of their homes when housing is treated as a private investment, not a human right.
Eviction disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, and people of color– with single Black mothers facing the highest risk
The effects of discrimination and displacement compound existing housing inequities, destabilize communities, and hurt us all.
Click here to view a PDF of our Right to Renew one pager
“I’ve watched friends and neighbors being forced out of their homes, it’s heartbreaking. In 2022, we passed Just Cause in Brooklyn Center, and we saw how much it protected our tenants. Everyone in Minnesota deserves that same protection. Housing impacts all of us, so no matter which political party you are aligned with, I’m asking all lawmakers to listen to our tenants and the voices of the people directly affected.” –Ms. Sharon Harris
Benefits of a Right to Renew policy
Consistency: streamlines existing policy to cover all Minnesotans; builds on existing Right to Organize law
Fairness: protects against arbitrary, retaliatory, or discriminatory evictions and non-renewals
Clarity: brings parity and strengthens communication between landlords and tenants
Saves money: avoids displacement costs for landlords, renters, and Minnesota taxpayers
Proactive: keeps people housed, preventing displacement and homelessness
A statewide Right to Renew policy – also known as Just Cause – will prevent unnecessary lease nonrenewals and evictions. Let’s work together to ensure Minnesotan renters can stay in their homes, advocate for safe living conditions, and have clear communication with their landlords.
Right to Renew– also known as Just Cause– is already working for many Minnesotans
Residents across the state living in manufactured housing, as well as all renters in Brooklyn Center, already benefit from Just Cause protections. So do renters in properties that receive federal low income housing tax credits. In Brooklyn Center, research shows that the policy successfully kept residents housed by decreasing evictions.
Now is the time for Minnesota to streamline existing Just Cause Eviction policy to define when and why eviction can happen.
A 2025 study from the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota found that “passing Just Cause eviction protections will not result in reduced rates of new housing production or, subsequently, housing supply.” — The Good Case for “Good Cause”: Do Good Cause eviction protections reduce the rate of housing production? (Read the report here)
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Why do we need Right to Renew?
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