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So I'm not directly providing aid to families here in Minneapolis, but with regards to the ongoing eviction moratorium debate, one thing I've consistently heard from aid providers is that it will do less good than you might expect, because the most vulnerable families are already renting illegally.
2:52 AM · Mar 6, 2026
E.g. I just talked to someone providing mutual aid for rent in South Minneapolis and fully 92% of their beneficiary families are in some form of illegal sublet. They do not have the protection of the law now; providing additional protections is unlikely to help much.
The critical need if you want people off the street is money, now. And not just money, but cash. The families themselves negotiated these arrangements and are working to negotiate extensions and rent reductions, etc., but the more cash they can put on the table right away, the easier that is.
Obviously providing cash to families living more or less entirely off the grid, whose names and locations are basically unknown to institutional service provides other than the schools, poses very substantial logistical challenges. But that's what would help the quickest and best.
I worked in low income housing for 16 months early in the pandemic. Eviction moratoriums are complicated. And there are a lot of ways to push someone out of housing without evicting them.
That said I don’t think a moratorium is a bad thing at all! But it won’t solve the whole problem, far from it.