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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Rena Moran (DFL)

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Fighting Homelessness by Modifying Eviction Proceedings

Thursday, March 27, 2014
Finding affordable housing can be a challenge for many people in our community. One bad experience can negatively impact their ability to find affordable housing and greatly increase the possibility of living homeless. 
 
Under current law, as soon as a landlord sends an eviction notice, the notice is automatically listed on the tenant’s public record before going through due process of the law. To have it removed from the tenant’s public record after a court finds the eviction order without facts, the person must submit a formal request to do so. There are times when an eviction order is issued without basis in fact or reason. A person is supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty; however, currently a person is considered guilty based on the landlord’s action of an eviction before due process of the law has taken place.
 
This has created many problems for members of our community. A landlord is hesitant to rent to someone with an eviction record and will often rent the space to someone with no prior eviction history. This results in a pattern of rejections and finding affordable, safe housing becomes difficult. Often times, many of these people are left homeless. 
 
I am authoring HF 2251 – a bill to prohibit an eviction order from appearing on a person’s public record until it has gone through due process of the law. If the court finds the eviction order without basis in fact or law, the eviction order will not appear on the tenant’s public record nor be liable to any costs that occurred as a result of the eviction order. Until the court finds in favor of the landlord, the eviction order would not be reported to the public or to credit agencies until final disposition of the case. After three years, the court must remove the eviction order from all public records and a landlord could not consider an eviction order after those three years has passed. 
 
We need to protect our residents and fight homelessness. One way to decrease homelessness in our neighborhoods is to expunge eviction proceedings, eliminating a barrier to finding housing. If a pending eviction order has negatively impacted your ability to find affordable and safe housing, please share your story with your legislators and encourage them to support HF 2251.
 
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or feedback. You can reach me by phone at (651) 296-5158, by email at rep.rena.moran@house.mn, or by postal mail at 413 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.
 
Together we are stronger!
 
Sincerely, 
 
Rena Moran
State Representative, District 65A