Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoes eviction notice extension ordinance
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed a measure passed by the City Council last week that temporarily requires landlords to wait longer before filing an eviction notice.
The council passed the ordinance 7-5, which would require landlords to wait 60 days instead of the typical 30 before filing an eviction notice. It would stay in effect until Aug. 31.
The measure was put forward by Council Member Robin Wonsley in an effort to ease the burden for renters after Operation Metro Surge, which city data shows led to an additional $15.7 million in monthly need for rent support. Last month the city unlocked $1 million in rental assistance to help Hennepin County residents impacted by the surge.
Frey on Wednesday announced an additional $1 million in emergency rental assistance that residents could access without proving their landlord had filed an eviction notice against them.
"Stopping evictions may sound good, but experience from COVID shows it's not the answer: Rental assistance is," Frey said. "Getting help to families quickly is the most effective way to prevent eviction, and that's exactly what this investment does."
Frey argued that broad eviction pauses create uncertainty in the rental market.
Housing advocates say many people were not able to go to work out of fear of the federal immigration crackdown, which resulted in 4,000 arrests statewide, according to the Department of Human Services.
Frey's office has said that the number of eviction filings in 2026 is consistent so far with the monthly average in 2025. There was an average of 254 emergency rent assistance applications in the last months of 2025, with an average of 235 in the first two months of 2026, according to Hennepin County data.
Council President Elliott Payne said he was "disappointed" in the veto.
"As someone who spent every day trying to protect my community from ICE, to the point where I was personally assaulted by them, I'm so disappointed Mayor Frey vetoed this bare-minimum policy that would show that he could move beyond cuss words and take real action to provide material support for our neighbors," Payne said. "This is a veto rooted in cowardice, not the livelihoods of our residents."
The council would need nine votes to override a mayoral veto.