A big win for housing justice in our community
Saint Paul voted YES for rent stabilization! Every single precinct of the West Side voted yes too. That's the power of the people!
“I remember a few years back we sat around a table and we were feeling the hopelessness and despair of so many neighbors (including several of us at the table with our own lived experiences of housing instability) and we were just like What IF, What IF we could just put a cap on the rent? Even if it was only a glimmer of hope. Fast forward to actually bringing those words, that hope, to life.” –Monica Bravo, Executive Director, West Side Community Organization
Here at WSCO, we're full of gratitude for all the West Side volunteers, neighbors, and organizers who joined the campaign to build power together so we can Keep Saint Paul Home. We're proud to be a part of the Housing Equity Now Saint Paul coalition leading the way for this historic housing justice policy!
Read the full statement from HENS: https://www.housingequitystp.org/election_night_statement
West Sider Myisha Holley stepped up to coordinate the many neighborhood volunteers at out Get Out The Vote Hub. She reflects: “By passing rent stabilization, it allows families the ability to afford necessities that we had to forego. It will assist in keeping families from being displaced.” Fellow neighbor Carlos Garcia-Velasco shared, “I want to ground us in what this fight really means for a lot of us: rent stabilization to me is about renters having a voice and the power to vote YES on something that directly impacts our lives. Here on the West Side, like the rest of Saint Paul, 50% of us are renters. And if we say, ‘We love our community,’ well, then we don’t want to be run out. Renters deserve roots in communities.”
“What we're talking about is the importance of being good neighbors," says Marcus Troy, longtime West Side renter and WSCO board member. "Rent stabilization allows us to stay in our communities and meet new neighbors, become friends with new neighbors, look out for new neighbors. Rent stabilization solidifies the community– don't let people come in, buy up the property, and uproot us. Being stable in the community solidifies us as neighbors, as friends, makes sure we're all safe, and looking out for one another.”