Story of Impact from Minnesota’s Housing Scorecard, Feb. 2020:
Housing Goal Four – Link Homes and Services
Evictions can have years-long consequences for tenants and significant costs for landlords. In Ramsey County, the Family Housing Fund and other partners are piloting on-site legal, mediation, and financial services in the housing court clinic. Since its launch, same-day expungements of eviction filings have doubled. This is a game-changer for tenants’ ability to successfully find and keep a stable home. Anoka and Dakota counties are replicating this approach.
Watch: Teaming Up to Prevent Eviction in Minnesota
About the Ramsey County Housing Court Clinic
In 2017, FHFund and the McKnight Foundation convened a group of Ramsey County stakeholders over six months to identify opportunities to reduce evictions and increase housing stability. This group included judges, court administration, landlord and tenant representatives, legal aid attorneys, mediators, and county emergency assistance staff. This group agreed to a series of action steps, and the Ramsey County Housing Court Clinic was launched in July 2018 to implement them.
The project implemented a number of court process changes, including:
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Adding information to the court summons about the legal process and the services available to tenants
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Amending the court-issued settlement form to prompt parties to include an agreement to expunge the filing from the tenant’s record as part of the settlement agreement
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Allowing the affidavit of compliance asserting that all conditions of the settlement have been met to be filed by the tenant, in addition to the landlord. (Historically, the court only accepted these forms from the landlord, who has little incentive to file them.)
Additionally, the Court has made on-site meeting space available to a Clinic of service providers who help tenants avoid eviction. Now, all Housing Court calendars are fully-staffed with:
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lawyers who provide legal counsel for tenants
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mediators who attempt to reach an agreement between the tenant and the landlord
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county emergency assistance (EA) workers who provide on-site screening for emergency funds
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and social service providers who work with EA workers to bundle financial assistance options and provide ongoing support to households encountered through the Clinic.
Family Housing Fund partners: the Second Judicial District, Ramsey County Financial Assistance, Dispute Resolution Center, Neighborhood House, Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, and the Volunteer Lawyers Network.
