Duluth council hears hours of testimony on tenant ‘right to repair’; ballot petition fails, alternate landlord-focused ordinance passes

The Duluth City Council on Tuesday heard more than an hour of public testimony and extended debate over competing approaches to a tenant “right to repair” before voting down a citizen petition ordinance and approving a council-drafted alternative.

The petition ordinance, titled “Tenant right to repair in residential rental property,” was a citizen-led measure submitted by Duluth Tenants Union and Housing Justice Center and backed by roughly 6,000 petition signatures. The council voted 2–6 against placing that petition ordinance in effect. The council then adopted an alternate ordinance amending Chapter 29A of the Duluth City Code to add landlord training requirements, increased tenant notification and shortened repair timelines; that measure passed 6–2.

Why it matters: The competing measures address the same problem—renters and tenant advocates told the council they routinely face months-long waits for relatively small repairs—but they take different approaches to who performs and pays for repairs and how disputes are resolved. The citizen petition would have allowed tenants to hire contractors and deduct the cost from rent under certain conditions; the council’s alternative centers on enforcement through the city’s life‑safety/code process, shorter response windows for landlords and mandatory training for property owners.

Public testimony emphasized tenant experiences and the petition’s broad community support. Grant Studer, a renter and member of the Hillside neighborhood, told the council, “I appreciate the ordinance to require landlords to inform tenants about their rights. I think it is a great step in the right direction.” Aaron Rose, a disabled veteran and District 2 resident, summarized why he supported the citizen petition: “The system isn't working... The Duluth right to repair gives us a tool, not to…