St. Paul adopts minor amendments to Emergency Rental Assistance eviction-prevention guidelines

St. Paul’s council adopted a resolution amending the citywide Emergency Rental Assistance Eviction Prevention Program guidelines, removing language that had capped assistance at “one month” of rent and updating HUD income limits.

The amendment was approved on a 5-0 voice vote after Vice Chair Jost moved to approve the item. Chair Johnson confirmed the motion and commissioners voted in favor.

Dorian Newton, director (presenting staff), told the body the change was straightforward: the guidelines previously capped eviction-prevention aid at $2,500 or one month’s rent, whichever was less. “We’ve learned more about that now and often it’s 2 to 3 months by the time someone’s at that point,” Newton said, adding that staff therefore removed the “one month” language while leaving the $2,500 cap intact. Newton also told commissioners staff updated the HUD income limits in the guidelines after HUD published new figures in June.

The resolution was introduced as “Resolution 20 five-eleven 59, resolution amending the Emergency Rental Assistance Eviction Prevention Program guidelines citywide” and was presented as an action item on the meeting agenda. After Newton’s explanation, Chair Johnson asked for questions; seeing none, Vice Chair Jost moved approval and the chair called for a vote. The clerk reported “5 in favor, 0 opposed; resolution is adopted.”

The vote and the staff presentation indicate changes are limited to guideline language and income-limit updates; no additional program dollars or new eligibility tests were described in the discussion. Staff recommended approval and no commissioners requested substantive changes to the revised text during the meeting.

The city did not provide, during the meeting, a new effective date for the amended guidelines or an updated program operations manual; those implementation details were not specified in the discussion.