For Renters Using Vouchers, MN Supreme Court Expands Protections

Earlier this fall, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid led a successful challenge at the Minnesota Supreme Court to reverse a 1995 precedent affecting renters using housing subsidies. One protection Minnesota tenants have is that landlords waive their right to evict if they accept rent payments despite knowing about specific lease violations. Until now this protection didn’t apply to tenants who used housing subsidies like Section 8 vouchers to pay rent. They could still be evicted.

Gary Van Winkle, a veteran housing attorney with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, represented a client who continued to pay rent using Section 8 vouchers for months after her landlord learned about a lease violation in 2022. When the landlord began an eviction action against her the following year, Van Winkle took the case in hopes of challenging the long-standing precedent. In pursuing it all way to the Supreme Court, the client and Van Winkle were able to secure an eviction protection that renters using subsidies have been denied for 30 years.

In speaking with the Minnesota Reformer about the case, Julia Zwak, managing attorney for housing at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, said “This case actually advances the law and restores fairness to what we thought was the correct outcome prior to the court’s 1995 decision.” Read more about the case in State Supreme Court expands eviction protections for renters using vouchers, other subsidies.