Duluth renters organize new group to give tenants more power

CATHY WURZER: Today, Duluth renters are officially launching what they're calling the Duluth Tenants' Union. It's a new way they've come up with to address a growing issue of affordability, livability, and availability in Duluth housing. The union hopes to keep the city's larger property management companies in check when it comes to making repairs in a timely manner and legally raising rent. DyAnna Grondahl is a Senior Organizer at Take Action Minnesota. She's been working for more than a year to launch this union today. DyAnna, welcome.

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Hi, Cathy. Thanks for having me on. Long longtime renter, first time caller. Glad to be here.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks for taking the time, DyAnna. Well, as you know, in May, Minnesota lawmakers passed this tenants' rights bill, which included the right to create unions, such as the one that we're talking about in Duluth. How would a tenants' union work, exactly?

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Great question. I like to talk about it just like a workers union. Just like unions come together at our hospitals and in our schools and in our machine shops to come together and bargain over their wages and benefits, we're just a group of renters who are coming together to advocate for ourselves and advocate for each other with our landlords and property managers to say, hey, we can take care of each other and make sure we all have safe and stable housing together.

CATHY WURZER: I know this has been done in other parts of the country, but has this been done in the Minnesota area before at all? I don't remember.

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Great question. There's some awesome, awesome tenant organizations like Inquilinxs Unidxs in the Twin Cities, WSCO in St. Paul. There's lots of folks doing awesome tenant organizing all across the state. This is not the first try at tenant organizing in Duluth, and I'm super proud to be part of that lineage of folks organizing renters up here in the Northland.

CATHY WURZER: So I know that there are renters laws in the city of Duluth, and of course, the state of Minnesota has laws, too, that prevents renters from eviction, and they can go to court with their landlords and all of that. But where do you think the union would fill in any gaps?

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Totally. Great question. I think the biggest place of filling in the gaps is it can be a really isolating experience to be a renter where it's like, oh, this isn't getting fixed. Is it just a me problem? Am I not doing a good enough job reaching out to my landlord? And the beauty of having a tenant union is that you've got a bunch of buddies behind you who've got your back, who can support you and say, why don't you send another email?

Let me go to the Heirloom office with you and see if we can get this repair fixed for you. And it's really about bringing people together and supporting each other to advocate for ourselves and advocate for our neighbors to make sure we all get the repairs we need and have a safe and stable roof over our heads.

CATHY WURZER: Say, help me out here. In terms of organizing, obviously, unions in the workplace have been successful because those organized were at specific workplaces or industries. Renters are often temporary residents of a building or a house, and there's often no lasting commitment. So do you see challenges in organizing renters?

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Oh, that's a really good question, Cathy. The beauty of how we're set up is that we are a citywide union. And so folks move around a bit across Duluth, but the reality is Duluth renters stock is stable and growing. And you'd be surprised. There's a lot of folks who are part of the union who have been renters in their buildings for 10 and 20 years, and they really care about their home, and they really care about their neighbors and really are invested in building for a brighter future together.

CATHY WURZER: Let me ask you about the property management companies in Duluth. Gosh, let me think now. ShipRock Management and Heirloom Property Management. I mean, they're two of the big ones, right?

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Yes.

CATHY WURZER: I believe we tried to call them before we went on the air here, and we haven't heard back from them. But as you've been talking to some landlords about how this would work, what have they been saying about this?

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Great question. It's really fun. We go door to door in neighborhoods all the way from Lakeside to West Duluth talking with folks. And I've knocked on a few landlord doors myself. And it's really compelling when I hear a landlord say, this is how I take good care of my tenants, and I get frustrated when folks aren't being taken care of because I'm a landlord to make sure that my tenants are taken care of, and I want to make sure that that's happening.

And the broad message that we've received has been positive. I think a lot of people are with us in that we just want people in Duluth to be able to access the housing and the repairs and the dignity that they need. We just have different strategies for going about that. I organize renters, and landlords are part of that group of folks who are providing housing.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, give folks an idea about the housing market in Duluth. I mean, it is a growing place, right?

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Yes.

CATHY WURZER: A number of colleges are in Duluth. Give us a sense of the issues that some renters are facing in Duluth.

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Yeah, absolutely. So to start off, Duluth is 39% renters. A good portion of those renters are students. But a solid portion are also just everybody from young professionals to folks who are retired. It's a really cross age group demographic who rents in Duluth. About 50% of renters in Duluth are cost burdened, which means that they spend over 30% of their income on their housing.

And something that's particularly special about Duluth-- I know people love to come visit our city because we have such rich history with the port and with the railroad and Glensheen Mansion, and that same history that is so fun to visit is also deeply rooted in our housing stock.

About 50% of our housing was built prior to 1940. And for comparison, across Minnesota, only 16% of housing was built before 1940. That's why I keep hammering home the importance of building for safe and stable housing-- we got to take care of our housing and make sure everybody has access to the repairs and safe and stable homes that they need.

CATHY WURZER: This may sound like a silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. So when I think of renters, I'm thinking apartment buildings and duplexes and that kind of thing, or maybe larger apartment buildings. But there are folks who do rent in a sense when they're at in assisted living facilities and senior type centers. Are they included in this or not?

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Absolutely. I don't have favorites, but there's a handful of folks from Greysolon and some of the different high rise complexes, assisted living complexes, or affordable housing complexes who are in every meeting and who are joining us in the fight.

Yeah. Whether you're 19 and a student at UMD, or 90 years old and you owned your house for decades and now you're retiring and settling into an apartment, folks broadly just really care about their neighbors and making sure that their neighbors are taken good care of in their homes.

CATHY WURZER: I mentioned larger property management companies, but what about the mom and pop landlords? Maybe they have one place in town or something like that. Might the union look at them differently than, say, a larger company?

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Totally. This is something that we've been wrestling with a lot, Cathy, because Duluth is fun in that about half of our rental stock is owned by a handful of companies, and then the other half is exactly what you're saying, those mom and pop shops where it's like, my starter house is now rented out to a couple of college students and stuff like that. And the way that we've been thinking about it a lot is-- we are in for renters being at the table for all housing decisions and solutions going forward.

And if there are landlords, mom and pop or big folks like Heirloom and ShipRock who are down for the cause and who want to fight for safe and stable housing, we're with them, too. And that's kind of the feedback that we've been getting from the smaller folks. People take great pride in taking good care of their tenants, and I have a lot of respect when folks name how they take care of their tenants.

CATHY WURZER: Got a final question for you. So you're launching today. I'm wondering what your goals are for your first year here at the Duluth Tenants' Union.

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Beautiful question. Yeah. We're launching today. There's going to be 100 tenants on the steps of City Hall at 5:30 PM hooting and hollering, making some noise for our rights and our repairs. And really, that's what it's all about this next year. We want to do some work together to advocate for ourselves and each other, just getting the repairs done in our homes directly, and then also fighting for something citywide that would support tenants having a stronger relationship with their landlords and being able to get repairs done in a timely fashion.

CATHY WURZER: Sounds like you might be doing some talking to Duluth city council members and maybe the mayor.

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Absolutely.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Well, we wish you well. DyAnna Grondahl, thank you so much.

DYANNA GRONDAHL: Thanks so much, Cathy. Have a good one.

CATHY WURZER: DyAnna is a senior organizer at Take Action Minnesota.