With 2024 now underway, a flurry of new Minnesota laws are in effect.

Renters facing obstacles with their landlords have new protections, and there is now a policy that addresses gun possession for those considered a risk to themselves or others.

Among the new housing laws is a requirement that landlords fully disclose non-optional fees in a lease agreement so that applicants have a full scope of what their rental costs look like.

Rachel Sterling is a housing attorney and the communications coordinator with the Minnesota nonprofit HOME Line. She said unexpected fees have become a problem in the rental market in recent years.

"A classic example is there was a landlord here that used to charge what's called a January fee," said Sterling, "an extra $100 just because it was January."

There are also tighter restrictions for landlord entry into a rental property.

Sterling said owners have the flexibility to set costs for expenses, but adds making certain language clear can potentially help tenants avoid eviction.

Meanwhile, Minnesota has added what's known as a "Red Flag" law, where certain individuals or agencies can seek a court petition for law enforcement to temporarily remove guns from a person exhibiting concerning behavior.

Maggiy Emery, executive director of the group Protect Minnesota, said the broader goal for these Extreme Risk Protection Orders is to help reduce gun violence.

But she said the law change gets to the core of a concerning issue around the state.

"The vast majority of our gun deaths here are firearm suicides," said Emery, "and ERPOS - Extreme Risk Protection Orders - have been shown to be very effective in reducing firearm suicides."

Johns Hopkins University gathered findings looking at the effectiveness of Red Flag laws. For example, Connecticut's extreme risk law was associated with a 13% reduction in firearm suicides.

Emery said as Minnesota implements its law, there's considerable outreach in under-resourced communities - including rural areas, to create more awareness and training about this new tool for law enforcement.

Gun-owner advocates have expressed concern about a person not being able to challenge an order.




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Homelessness in South Dakota may be down overall, but the state's urban areas are an exception. New programs in Sioux Falls aim to address it.

The most recent point-in-time data show the number of people unhoused in Sioux Falls rose by 20% between 2022 and 2023. Native people experience homelessness at a disproportionately high rate, making up nearly 40% of the unhoused population in the area. So, South Dakota Urban Indian Health launched the Wo'Okiye program last year, with case management services and help making and getting to medical appointments.

Monica Bailey, program manager and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe member, said these wraparound services give staff a variety of options to respond.

"If they want to go to treatment or if they want to talk. We also provide smudging, therapeutic beading and sewing. We just meet people where they're at on their journey," she said.

Bailey added the organization is averaging 1,300 contacts a month -- an increase from about 260 last September, after launching its initial street outreach efforts a year ago.

The City of Sioux Falls also hired its first Homelessness Services Coordinator in April. Bailey said Wo'Okiye will work closely with the coordinator, and has partnered with others in the city.

"For example, we have a great relationship with downtown Sioux Falls Library, where they can call us and we can go in and check on someone, and bring them to our space or see if we need to do a warm handoff," Bailey said.

The unhoused population in Rapid City also grew last year, although homelessness across the state has decreased nearly 8% since 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.


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As Virginia evictions rise, one group is helping low-income renters fight back.

Before the pandemic, evictions peaked at 16,000 in January 2020. An eviction moratorium kept renters housed during part of the pandemic but evictions are growing again.

Phil Storey, director of the Eviction Defense Center at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said his office helps people navigate housing court.

"We wanted to provide not just information about things they can bring up to the judge to try and affect what happens but also some tools that'll help them do that without having to act as if they were experienced lawyers," Storey explained.

He added eviction laws are better for tenants, although they still give landlords an advantage. Affordable housing significantly declined in the state leaving many people unable to afford housing. The Eviction Defense Center operates on two websites. English speakers can use FightMyEviction.org and Spanish speakers can use NoDesalojo.org.

While the Eviction Defense Center is still relatively new, Storey is looking for ways to improve and build on it. He added they want to learn from the users taking advantage of the tools being offered.

"Obviously, we'll be able to go sort of peek behind the curtain and see which paths people are following through the information," Storey noted. "If some of them end up as dead ends or if people end up backing out of the decision tree, or things like that. We'll learn things about how to make that all better."

New York's 2025 budget takes proactive steps to address rural housing.

In the budget, $10 million was allocated for improvements to rural housing built by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Section 515 program. Rural housing organizations asked for $25 million but are grateful the state is taking action.

Mike Borges, executive director of the Rural Housing Coalition of New York, said another bill the Legislature should pass makes the Mobile and Manufactured Home Replacement Program permanent.

"Basically what that does is provide grants to low- to moderate-income people to replace their mobile homes that are dilapidated and unsafe," Borges explained.

He would also like to see administration fees increase for nonprofits taking part in the Access to Home Program, which provides accessibility modification for low- to moderate-income residents. Reports showed it got requests totaling $12 million but only got enough funding for $1 million in improvements. The Senate is poised to pass both bills, leaving the Assembly as the final hurdle.

However, the budget was not perfect for rural housing. Borges said one shortcoming of the 2025 budget were cuts to the RESTORE program, which provides emergency repairs for low-to-moderate-income seniors. He said New York should take action now to continue improving rural housing preservation and development.

"We need a comprehensive housing initiative that looks at the obstacles to building and renovating, repairing housing in rural communities," Borges contended. "The three main obstacles to that are local capacity, infrastructure and targeted programs for rural housing."

He added rural areas do not often have the same resources and capacity as urban communities. Because rural housing is in short supply because of the aging housing stock, there have been stark population declines from rural New York communities.