When we seek to make substantive changes in our communities, one way is through policy. Creating and advocating for policy change or new policies altogether allows us to be in control of more systemic change as a long-term solution to everyday problems. Policy change can take many different forms, from collaborating with legislators to create and lobby for new policies at the capitol to working in coalition with partner organizations to create and advocate for ballot initiatives that address community needs. In whatever form it takes, we center community voices so the policies that we support will actually meet their needs. No one needs another policy that helps the people in power stay in power.
Each year, we select one or two major policy issues on which to focus based on feedback from our audience collected through our pledge cards and one-on-one conversations. These policies are often based on the issues that we see young people facing and changing already, and we use our resources and status as an organization to further these efforts. Previous issues we have focused on include student debt relief, food justice, and cannabis legalization. Lately, we’ve been focusing on public safety and housing justice.
Rent control primarily impacts young people.
As a policy, rent control gets rid of any and all rent increases. This greatly impacts young Minnesotans, who are primarily renters. Currently, Minnesota has a statewide ban on rent control, which we plan to work to dismantle through rent control tools like rent stabilization. Rent Stabilization still allows for rent increases to happen, but it limits them to a certain percentage and how many times they may occur per year.
We believe that housing is a human right.
In 2021, MNYC was a leader in the Housing Equity Now — St. Paul (HENS) campaign. With our partners, we helped pass a 3% rent stabilization across St. Paul through the Keep St. Paul Home campaign. However, in 2023, St. Paul leadership rolled back many of the provisions passed. Now, NYC is looking forward to strengthening rent stabilization—not just in St. Paul, but also across the state of Minnesota. Currently, Minnesota has a statewide ban on rent control, which we plan to work to dismantle by replicating our work with HENS on a larger scale.