This article discusses landlords in St.Paul relying on increased costs to tenants through utility bills, Tennessee criminalizing homelessness, and Aspen, Colorado trying to slow down speculative real estate.  St. Paul, Minnesota implemented a strong rent stabilization ordinance capping annual rent increases at 3% for landlords. However, reports indicated that landlords were circumventing these regulations by hiking up utility costs. According to tenants, combining these utility increases with the allowable 3% rent hike has resulted in a substantial 14% rise in their payments, far exceeding increases they’ve experienced in the past decade. While city guidelines explicitly prohibit landlords from justifying rent increases with higher utility costs, landlords seem to interpret this as permission to raise utilities separately. Despite tenant complaints dating back to last May, the city has yet to take action on these utility hikes, raising concerns about the enforcement and effectiveness of the rent stabilization law in protecting tenants from excessive rent and fee increases.

The new Tennessee law targeting unhoused residents, effective July 1, 2022 imposed a $50 fine for camping along highways or exit ramps and expanded a 2012 ban on camping on state-owned property to include all public property, making it a felony offense. The legislation, described as one of the strictest in the country, sparked advocacy efforts, including a protest campout at Nashville’s Riverfront Park. There were also lingering concerns about Tennessee’s eligibility for new HUD funding aimed at unsheltered individuals. Some municipalities in the state were lacking the sufficient data to compete effectively for these grants.

Aspen’s city council enacted a series of ordinances aimed at addressing housing shortages exacerbated by short-term rentals and increasing demand. The laws include restrictions on home demolitions and reconstructions, reforms to zoning laws to permit denser housing developments like triplexes and quadplexes on single-family lots, and limitations on short-term rental permits coupled with higher fees. 

These measures are part of Aspen’s broader strategy to curb the conversion of residential homes into short-term rentals by wealthy residents, which has contributed to a scarcity of housing for local workers. Additionally, the city is considering a ballot measure to impose a 13% tax on short-term rentals, potentially generating $10 million annually to fund affordable housing initiatives.

https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/housing-in-brief-landlords-utility-bills-st-paul-rent-control