Housing Alliance Law Office (HALO)

Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services - 030181

Abstract Number: 030181

January 2004

Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) partnered with the City of St. Paul, The 3M Company (Minnesota's largest employer), Briggs & Morgan (St. Paul's largest law firm), William Mitchell Law School, and VISTA to launch the Housing Alliance Law Office (HALO) to ensure access to safe, habitable, and affordable housing by low-income tenants.

Despite some legal aid-developed pro-tenant laws that supported standards of habitable and safe housing, SMRLS housing attorneys often did not encounter substandard housing cases until buildings were condemned by the city and thus too late to be saved. In order to ensure that affordable housing remains on the market and buildings are kept up to code through repairs and improvements, SMRLS brought together the HALO partners to deliver legal services through a store front office on St. Paul's eastside. St. Paul's eastside is home to the largest concentration of low-income persons in the state of Minnesota.

HALO is closely coordinated with the eastside district counsels and community groups to ensure timely client referrals and low-income community education. Clients who contact SMRLS/HALO often live in a building in a state of serious disrepair where the landlord is attempting to collect rent for as long as possible without making repairs. SMRLS estimates that St. Paul has a 1% - 2% vacancy rate and some landlords do not make the improvements as they believe they can locate another renter with relative ease.

Upon taking a client's case, a SMRLS/HALO attorney contacts the landlord to determine the scope and seriousness of the problem. If there are code violations, HALO attempts to negotiate a settlement. If the landlord is unwilling to make the requested repairs, the HALO attorney contacts the city to request that the property be inspected for code violations. If violations are found, the city can charge the landlord with a misdemeanor and/or SMRLS/HALO can bring a case against the landlord under the Tenant Remedies Act.

This Act allows attorneys to request that the court intervene on the tenant's behalf and require that the landlord make improvements to bring the property up to code. The city has made funds available to landlords to ensure they can follow through with these requirements. In the most egregious violations involving a landlord with a poor repair history, the court can either sell the building or appoint an organization, typically a neighborhood nonprofit development organization, to administer the property and ensure that the repairs are made to the property.

SMRLS has found that landlords typically make improvements to a building once SMRLS provides evidence to the court on the state of the building and requests an administrator for the property. In addition to the ensuring the availability of safe and habitable housing, Project HALO staff members also represent clients in related improper evictions cases and housing discrimination matters.

Project HALO has received tremendous support from St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, an ardent supporter of legal services and affordable housing. Upon taking office, he made housing his number one priority and has actively supported Project HALO by making city building inspectors available upon request by Project HALO staff members. Briggs & Morgan and 3M attorneys have also adopted this project and provide pro bono assistance to Project HALO clients. Students at William Mitchell Law School provide support to the pro bono attorneys. VISTA has supplied a community worker to reach out to the low-income community to ensure good referrals, effective community education activities, and to coordinate volunteer attorney work.

This unique group of actors has made tremendous strides in working towards ensuring that safe, habitable, and affordable housing remains on the market in St. Paul. To learn more about this project, access the news release below.

Contact Information:

Bruce Beneke
Executive Director
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services
46 East 4th Street, Suite 700
St. Paul, MN 55101
Phone: (651) 228-9823
Fax: (651) 228-9450
bruce.beneke@smrls.org

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