St. Paul, MN. July 15, 2020 – Accountability and organizing are fundamental to our vision for a just and joyful community where everyone has access to safe, quality housing they can afford. That’s why, in June 2020, WSCO filed a lawsuit against residential rental business Quetico Property Management, LLC (QPM), managed by Lake Elmo City Council Member Justin Bloyer. 

You can read the full complaint here. 

We did it! 

The S.A.F.E. Housing Tenant Protection Ordinance passed City Council with unanimous support this Wednesday, making St. Paul home to the strongest renter rights in Minnesota. This ordinance is the result of community efforts- so thank you to all you West Siders who came out to support this issue by giving our Council member Rebecca Noecker a call! 

Starting March 1st of 2021, this ordinance will change five points of tenant-landlord law: 

• capping security deposits at one month’s rent
• reforming tenant screening criteria (with regards to credit scores and criminal history)
• forbidding landlords from terminating leases without a “Just Cause” in writing
• requiring landlords of affordable housing to give advance notice of sale and
• requiring landlords to provide tenants with a manuel on their rights and responsibilities

Book Club- We Keep Us Safe (author Zach Norris)

Click here for book club registration! 

WSCO, in partnership with Root & Restore, will host this book club. You will be contacted with more information once your registration is filled out.

To build community power and a shared vision of what real community safety is, Root & Restore St Paul is hosting a book club this summer to read and discuss Zach Norris's We Keep Us Safe. Norris presents a compelling argument for why our current system of policing and punishment doesn't work and why we need to transition to a care-based model for building safer, healthier communities.

Let's get this party started and pin down a date for us to meet online to talk about the book!

More about Zach Norris

As Board directors for the West Side Community Organization (WSCO), the district planning council for Saint Paul’s mulit-ethnic enclave across the Mississippi River from downtown, our work has long been involved with housing justice. Injustice and displacement have impacted the West Side for generations and the  Covid-19 pandemic has only aggravated the already precarious housing conditions of many long-term West Side residents. But that is not all. 

  The social unrest that has erupted in the Twin Cities is not only a response to the murder of George Floyd and others at the hands of the police. It is a response to other racial injustices, against Black and Brown communities, with housing injustice as just one of them. Community has spoken at a magnitude and collective clarity few of us have ever witnessed in our lifetime. The listening has happened and now is the time to act. We will not stand for injustice, we will not make excuses for inaction, and we are pressing elected officials to make meaningful change that protects the basic needs of every individual and family.

That’s why WSCO so strongly supports the S.A.F.E renter protection ordinances coming before the Saint Paul City Council on June 24th for a public hearing and final vote.

WSCO is hosting a pop-up food drive this weekend. Donations of items will be accepted at Villa del Sol - 88 Cesar Chavez from 8 am to 4pm on Friday, June 5th.  Please see requested donation items below. Give away times will be: