3 housing goals

As members of the St. Paul Chapter of MICAH (Metropolitan Council on Affordable Housing), we are very proud of the new St. Paul City Council and its leadership, and we are particularly hopeful that they will maintain a laser focus on meeting each and every city resident’s need for safe, affordable housing.

At MICAH, we hope to work with the new Council to meet three fundamental housing goals:

First, the rent stabilization law that voters passed in 2022 must be strengthened. Specifically, the construction loophole created after its passage should be shortened or closed, rents on all affordable properties (not just market rate rentals) should be covered, and rental-property owners requesting rent increases over 3% should be made to justify those requests (self-certification up to 8% must end).

Second, the many renter protections that voters supported should be reinstated. That includes the requirement that leases be renewed automatically unless the property owner can provide a stipulated just cause not to do so. It also includes requiring rental-property owners to inform renters of their rights; limiting the dollar amount of a rental deposit to no more than the amount of one-month rent; and requiring a 90-day advance notice of sale. There is urgent need for tenant-screening reform, such as no longer requiring credit screening, and limiting the use of housing and criminal court records to turn away applicants.

Third, we ask the Council to explore reducing our dependence on privately held rental properties (particularly large properties held by out-of-state investment firms), in order to provide more stable affordable options for residents at all income levels. There should be more housing owned directly by the city, county, or state, as well as more land trust housing, cooperative housing, and other forms of social housing.

We do know “mom and pop” property owners in St. Paul who, on their own, follow many of our recommendations above; however, not all do, and renters should be able to expect fairness and consistency in St. Paul housing policies.

Elaine Tarone, Deena Strohman, and John Slade, St. Paul

They’d have gone after anybody

I read with interest “A familiar, frustrating case for Black women leaders” (Feb. 18). Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., did not have to answer embarrassing questions about her personal life because she is a Black woman. She had to answer those questions because she and her former lover Nathan Wade had engaged in extremely poor judgement. Their problematic actions took place over an extended period of time while they were leading an extraordinarily important and high-profile court case.

Once the Trump co-defendant defense attorneys found out about this relationship and, at minimum, the appearance of ethical and potentially other violations, they were going to take full advantage of the situation. They would have aggressively gone after any district attorney under these circumstances regardless of that DA’s race and/or gender.

Peter Langworthy, St. Paul

Change the name

In light of the former president comparing himself to Alexei Navalny, it seems only appropriate that if Trump Tower is sold to satisfy his New York fraud penalty, its new name should be Navalny Tower.

Steve Larson, Minneapolis

Trump’s accomplishments

A recent letter writer (“There’s more to the story,” Feb. 4) took issue with a few of the claims I listed in a preceding letter (“Accomplishments,” Jan. 28) regarding Donald Trump’s record as president. I think the writer is actually supporting some of the claims.

First, the writer restates the accurate claim that unemployment rates were lowest ever under Trump for Blacks, Latinos, and women, and adds Asians.Then the writer says Obama did it, and concludes by saying that unemployment rates were already falling under Obama “and then continued to fall.” Yes they did continue to fall. When Obama left office the unemployment rate was 4.7%. Under Trump it dropped to 3.5%. That’s a 25.5% drop.

Next, the writer appears to agree with the claim that Trump doubled the Child Care Credit. The letter said, “Yes, if your income is as high as $400,000 the new tax law made you eligible for a tax credit of $2,000 per child.” This is true. Up to $400,000 if filing jointly, up to $200,000. So the writers is confirming that family incomes below those thresholds would qualify for the larger Trump Child Care Credit. That includes the entire middle class.

Last, the writer questions my claim about NATO payments and says that Trump really didn’t understand what this was all about. The writer is correct that NATO members are supposed to contribute 2% of their annual GDP to their own defense. The problem is the weren’t doing it. They were $400 billion in arrears. NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg has stated that pressure from Trump caused Canada and European allies to pay up $130 billion, so far, of the $400 billion shortfall. So maybe Trump did know what he was doing.

I encourage you to take a minute and look up a list of Trump’s accomplishment as president. You will probably find many you agree with.

Tom Froistad, North St Paul