The companies have denied the allegations and unsuccessfully moved to dismiss the case, which is in the discovery stage. Pretium is fighting to be named as a defendant in the case, arguing that he is merely a passive investor in the company. A judge is expected to rule on that element this year.
“Owners and operators, all of them, are responsible and will be responsible,” Ellison said in an interview. “It’s not going to be good enough to say, ‘I just own the place and make the profit from it. I don’t drive it.’”
For a decade, Shanika Henderson has been a tenant at the company now known as Progress. At first her landlord was accommodating, she said, but then she endured insufficient heat in the winter and said no repairs were made to her home, such as fixing a cracked foundation. When a tenant organizer approached her about joining the group’s effort to fight the landlord, she listened.
“I was very moved by the work that they were doing and being involved in something that I didn’t think was possible,” Henderson said. “They said, ‘Come with us and knock on the door,’ and I did. I got to know tenants even on my block that I didn’t know.”
In addition to getting the word out to Progress tenants about the advocacy group’s activities and recruiting them as members, United Renters for Justice has picketed the company’s local offices, encouraged residents to call 311 with their complaints, has advised tenants how to pay rent to the court if repairs were not made and asked to meet with Progress executives. So far, the company has denied the meeting request.
A Progress spokeswoman said in a statement: “Progress Residential engages regularly with our residents and with community representatives who operate in good faith.”
Since the protests against Progress began, the group has also won rent-to-own options for its tenants, and when a tenant must move while a property is being repaired, the landlord has agreed to pay moving costs. Henderson was one of the tenants Progress moved into renovated homes following the tenant drive.
Brown, the other Progress tenant, told NBC News that she believes the only reason her landlord has begun to address some of her complaints is because of the work of United Renters for Justice. “We were able to fix our air conditioner, redo our furnace, some window treatments,” she said. “But they still have a long way to go.”
Progress’s Minneapolis operations have been lucrative, according to a new report from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, an advocacy group that monitors the impact of private equity firms on consumers of goods and services. The report says that the company purchases of these modest houses they have prevented low-income and first-time homebuyers from being able to purchase. Now that North Minneapolis properties bought by Progress and its affiliates have more than doubled in value, according to the report, wealth creation that could have benefited neighborhood residents has flown to the wealthy firm.
“Renting a home is a value proposition for tenants, neighborhoods and families who choose to live in a home when the rent is right for them,” the Progress spokeswoman said in response to the report. “Since 2021, many millions have been invested in the properties we manage in Minnesota, including investments in people who live and work in the state.”
Progress’s tenants also drew the attention of Minneapolis city officials who demanded the company change aspects of its operations. For example, the city required emergency repairs to be made to Progress properties within 24 hours and prohibited retaliation against tenants for demanding repairs. Additionally, utilities must be billed in the name of the tenant, not the owner, in order for the tenant to apply for energy assistance payment programs, city documents show.
Columbia Heights, an upscale Minneapolis suburb about 5 miles north of the city, has also lobbied Progress after receiving complaints from tenants. Last year, it revoked the rental license of HavenBrook Homes, the Progress affiliate, after an investigation of the company’s properties discovered numerous uncorrected building and safety code violations. They included missing or broken smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, combustible material stored under basement stairs, mold, broken windows and leaking plumbing — violations the city says put tenants’ lives at risk.
Columbia Heights Mayor Amada Marquez Simula characterized the landlord as “predatory” in an interview.
“Everyone should be able to live in decent and safe housing,” Márquez Simula told NBC News, “and if the landlords don’t provide that, the only way for cities to enforce that security is for the landlords to lose that license.”
Márquez Simula says Columbia Heights is also investigating other corporate landlords with a high volume of property violations and significant rent increases to see if the city should also revoke their licenses.
As for Progress, its spokesperson said none of its rent increases have exceeded 10% and increases have averaged less than 5% in Minnesota in 2022 and 2023. Still, even small rent increases can hit homeowners especially hard. low income renters in Minneapolis. An April “Rent Stabilization Staff Analysis” conducted by the city found that rents up 44% from 2006 to 2019 for the bottom quartile of Minneapolis renters, while their income grew just 2.9%.
Ellison, Minnesota’s attorney general since 2019, made tenant protection a campaign issue. Landlord-tenant issues had not been the attorney general’s traditional domain, his spokeswoman said, but as large corporate landlords like Pretium bought more and more state homes, the attorney general’s office intensified scrutiny. He now has a program with dedicated staff and budget to crack down on suspected violators.
“We prefer that companies follow what the law requires of them,” Ellison said. “But we will sue when necessary. And we want people to know what we’re doing because we want them to call us when unfair things happen.”
Samantha Pree-Stinson, campaign manager for United Renters for Justice, said that’s exactly what her group helps renters do. Repeatedly calling 311 to file complaints, for example, can be a powerful force in getting the attention of city and state officials, she said. “When large amounts of that happen, the city has to reallocate resources to address the problem,” she said. “The pressure we put on the system made the system have to respond.”
