A place to live is an essential for all. As house ownership becomes more difficult to reach, the role of rental properties cannot be overlooked.
Almost half of the residential properties in the Hamline-Midway are occupied by renters as opposed to homeowners. However, the landlords of these rental properties vary from local members of the community, with only a small handful of rental properties to large corporations, the renters do not get a face and name to interact with.
As the cost of homes and interest rates increases, so does the presence of large property management companies.
“The interest rates are so high … but these larger investment companies that are buying these homes, they have the capital to scoop it up as soon as they can,” Organizing Director for Hamline-Midway Coalition (HMC) Justin Lewandowski said.
The Cost Burden
The cost burden of owning properties poses difficulties for local landlords. In 2021, the City of St. Paul’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance was approved by voters to limit residential rent increases to no more than 3% in a 12 month period. This works to protect renters from sudden and significant rent increases that they cannot keep up with.
This rent stabilization can pose barriers for smaller landlords who are grappling with an ever evolving economic climate and shifting property taxes and expenses on maintaining a household. A normal increase in property taxes in a year is typically 2 to 2.5%, but there can be significant outlier years.
Gary Roberto, a landlord for almost 40 years with three properties, has dealt with many economic markets.
“It’s to protect people from getting kicked out of their places or having exorbitant rent increases, and I understand that, I am for that. But the year they passed that was 2021, where inflation was 12%,” Roberto said. “If you’re telling us the maximum we can raise rents is 3% because it is a nice concept, right? But how is this fair to a landlord, a small landlord, if everything else is going up 8 to 10% in any given year? And no one can predict that.”
The shifting economic state is not the only cost barrier. Property taxes and values are not always predictable. Anne Ferreira, owner and landlord for a fourplex in the Hamline-Midway area, shared some of her problems.
“I think they were just going through recently sold properties, thinking someone is going to rehab them… I had to pay taxes on almost a million dollar property for a whole year and then I got the money back eventually, but that was a tough year,” Ferreira said.
A Face and Name to Contact
Local landlords can provide their tenants with a face, name and direct contact information that is often lacking with larger corporations and property management companies. Renters from larger companies are often left in the dark about who even owns the property they are calling home. This can impact the level of contact the renters are able to have about problems with their housing.
“I luckily have a landlord who has been very much in contact with us, but that also is not always the case,” Senior Cece Chmelik said.
On a smaller scale, landlords are able to provide their tenants with their personal phone number as a quick, reliable form of communication.
“It’s a small operation, you know, it’s not like I’m a big operation at all. It’s pretty easy to just directly contact me if you have a problem,” Roberto said.
The communication is a two way street. The tenants are able to contact their landlord and the landlord is able to update their tenants.
“We just text each other. I text like we’re doing a painting project on the back porch, or they text me if there is an issue…I think people appreciate having an owner on site,” Ferreira said.
The direct line of contact makes conflict resolution easier as well. HMC has worked with many tenants dealing with housing issues, but has found that the easiest solution can come with a real person.
“If your landlord is somebody local who knows the community, who you are working one-to-one with directly, it is much easier to do that,” Lewandowski said.
Improved communication between landlords can limit the number of renter rights violations.
“We see a lot more problems in terms of violations with renters’ issues in terms of the larger housing hubs and the more corporate landlords that are buying up these single family homes that are largely owned by these LLCs and conglomerates,” Lewandowski said.
A Connection to Strengthen the Community
Personally, Lewandowski’s experience with a local landlord was monumental in kick-starting his involvement and dedication to the neighborhood. His landlord, a local community member, helped introduce Lewandowski to HMC and the surrounding area.
“When we have good landlords who actually care about the community and the neighborhood, it is also a way of anchoring more people who want to stay in the Midway…that really helped shape my identity in this place,” Lewandowski said.
Some small landlords can prioritize helping those in the community, focused on giving their tenants an affordable place to live and comfortable place to live that can improve their connection to the community.
“People like me are giving people a place to rent that is reasonable and — we try to maintain it to a certain degree as well as we can — clean,” Roberto said.
Landlords with roots in the neighborhood can care more directly about their neighborhood. Small landlords can put a face and name to their tenants in the same way the tenants can put a face and name to their landlord.
“It just fundamentally changes the relational fabric of the community, and it really eliminates some of those experiences like I had working with my landlord, my landlord telling me about the neighborhood, treating me with respect and dignity and not just a tenant at unit 3 in this property,” Lewandowski said.
Local landlords can be more likely to not only get their tenants involved in the community, but to also rely on their community for a symbiotic relationship. When it comes to repairing her property, Ferreira is not an expert on all things construction.
“I rely heavily on the Hamline Midway Neighborhood page, for you know, ‘Hey, I’m looking for an electrician’… I try to keep it local,” Ferreira said.
Bad experiences with landlords can make people wary of interacting with their landlords.
“Landlords in general seem to get a bad rep, and I think there is a lot more than just the bad landlords out there,” Ferreira said.
If you are a renter in need of support, you can contact HMC or visit HOMEline.
