Committee hears $4.4 million proposal to expand statewide housing mediation

Senate File 830, a proposal to fund a statewide housing mediation program, was presented to the Minnesota Senate Committee on Housing and Homelessness Prevention and laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus. The bill, introduced by Senator Bolden, would appropriate $4,400,000 in fiscal year 2026‑27 to Community Mediation Minnesota (CMM) to administer a statewide housing mediation program.

Proponents told the committee the funding would expand existing mediation services that resolve disputes between renters and landlords, reduce evictions, and relieve pressure on eviction courts. "When it was introduced, it was introduced as community meditation. We are not talking about meditation today. It is mediation," Senator Bolden said when she opened the presentation.

Katie Arnold, co‑executive director of Community Mediation Minnesota, described CMM as an umbrella organization for seven state‑certified community dispute resolution programs (CDRPs). "Community Mediation Minnesota, or CMM as we're also known, is the umbrella organization of Minnesota's 7 state certified community dispute resolution programs," Arnold said. She told the committee CMM is active in courts, schools and communities and aims to expand services to all 87 counties; currently CMM's CDRPs reach 77 counties. Arnold said the requested funding would support capacity building, mediator training, a statewide database to aggregate data, and culturally specific services.

Beth Bailey, executive director of Community Mediation and Restorative Services and a founding CMM board member, described long experience with hallway mediations in housing court and stressed mediation's potential to produce negotiated agreements outside formal court orders. "I watched as 8 property providers and renters worked out an agreement that worked for them," Bailey said, recalling early mediation pilots. She and other testifiers told the committee mediation helps preserve housing for renters while stabilizing finances for rental providers.

Jennifer Frisbie, director of operations and programs at CMM, said CMM paired mediation with rental assistance in a RentHelpMN targeted assistance program and reported a model in which mediation referrals helped connect participants to rental assistance. Frisbie said CMM and its partners connected mediation participants to $14,140,000 in rental assistance in a single year and that settlement agreements reached in mediation prevent eviction in roughly 90% of cases.

Committee members asked operational questions about typical mediation length and follow‑up. Katie Arnold answered that many in‑court mediations take about 45 minutes and that parties sometimes return to mediation later to modify agreements. Senators on the committee expressed broad support for mediation as an eviction‑prevention tool.

The committee clerk recorded that Senate File 830 was "laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus." No final vote on the bill occurred in the committee record.

Ending: The committee moved on to other bills after laying Senate File 830 over for possible omnibus inclusion. The testimony and discussion will be available in the committee record for follow‑up during omnibus negotiations.