Please join us as we celebrate HOME Line’s 20th birthday during Treadmill-a-Thon 2012! We’re starting at 9:00am Monday, June 11 straight through until 10:00pm Tuesday, June 12. Help us raise $20,000 for HOME Line’s 20 years of advocacy. Whether you’ve participated in Treadmill-a-Thon in the past or not, we hope that you will click the link below to sign up for a fun-filled, action-packed fundraising extravaganza!

We have plenty of exciting quirks this year: root beer floats, drawings for giveaways to donors, special guest appearances from Mr. Bill Ding and Jivee Coolidge the office watercooler, and more. We know that participants will be bringing tons of fun too–last year we had participants who played live music, performed a 2-person play, answer questions from the Jeopardy quiz, juggled, made a smoothie, demonstrated the art of print making, ate jucy lucy burgers, play the newlywed game, and even performed a 2-person acrobatic dance routine. What more can be accomplished?

This year we’re using VolunteerSpot to register participants for Treadmill-A-Thon–click below to register and choose any 20-minute time slot that is available on the treadmill. When you view the sign-up form, please select one or more 20-minute time slots on the treadmill. Be sure to let us know if you will be showing off a special talent, unique activity, or topic while on the treadmill! Once you’ve registered we’ll send more info about the event and ask you to join our GiveMN fundraising team. Time slots posted allow room for only 1 participant each. If you are planning to sign up for a time slot as a team or duo, please email traceyg@homelinemn.org the information for the additional people and they will be added to the schedule and included on logistical communication.

Register for Treadmill-a-Thon:

After you sign up, we’ll get you the info you need to prepare and encourage friends, family, and colleagues to support you as you treadmill for HOME Line! You can join our Team Treadmill-a-Thon 2012 on GiveMN to begin your fundraising efforts too.

“Introduction to Landlord Foreclosures:  What Landlord and Tenant Attorneys Should Know,”
Matt Eichenlaub, Housing Attorney, HOME Line

Residential rental housing is not immune from the ongoing housing foreclosure crisis–in some communities 40% or more of the foreclosures involve investor-owned rental properties. This one hour CLE (1 credit to be applied for) will feature a brief introduction to the foreclosure process in general and then examine the nuances in a foreclosure when there is a landlord and tenant involved.

Matt Eichenlaub is a Housing Attorney at HOME Line.  He has advised over 2,250 renters dealing with foreclosures  since joining HOME Line in 2008.  He has also given dozens of speeches on this topic to a variety of audiences.

The CLE webinar is sponsored by HOME Line and will take place from Noon-1pm on Tuesday, June 5th, 2012.  The cost for the webinar is $20.

Those who register attend by internet webinar (a system requirement test to see if you can access the webinar is available here) and can submit written questions via the webinar Q&A text chat system.  The CLE will be broadcasted live.

Click to register…

“Introduction to Landlord Foreclosures: What Landlord and Tenant Attorneys Should Know”

Click below to register and pay online (you do not need a PayPal account—there is an option on the bottom right to pay with a credit card):

In January, over 100 supporters celebrated HOME Line’s 20 years of Tenant Advocacy in Minnesota. HOME Line board members hosted this 20th anniversary celebration honoring HOME Line’s Tenant Hotline, Organizing, and Advocacy accomplishments. Please take a look at our history as detailed in our 20 year retrospective (download/view HOME Line’s 20 Year Report).

To keep up-to-date on our accomplishments, you can view our Current Highlights page that is updated quarterly to inform community members about the services we provide and projects we are working on.

The speech, “What Every Landlord Should Know: Avoiding Honest (and costly) Mistakes” will focus on key issues that cause problems between landlords and tenants.  Additionally, learn about several new laws that took effect in the last two years.

• Thursday, May 17th from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
  Powderhorn Park Rec Center
  3400 15th Ave. S.
  Minneapolis, MN 55407 

Please note: This course is recognized by the City of Minneapolis as covering the Fundamentals of Property Management.  This can be up to a $250 savings for “point of conversion” fees (going from a non-rental to a rental unit).

Click below for more information & to register for either training.

Along with the new laws, topics to be covered will include:

• Fair Housing Complaints- What Starts Them?
• The Application Process
• Leases
• Caretakers/On-site Staff
• Bedbugs
• Evictions
• Security Deposits
• When Can a Landlord Enter an Apartment?
• Rent Increases
• How to Give a Notice to Vacate

HOME Line attorneys have given speeches to landlord groups throughout Minnesota, covering a wide variety of landlord/tenant law topics. HOME Line is now offering a two-hour training conducted by Managing Attorney, Michael Vraa. Mike has personally spoken to 44 different groups of landlords in his 14 years of experience as an attorney working exclusively on landlord/tenant law.

“I was very skeptical that this wasn’t going to be much more than a very basic landlord class.  Boy was I wrong!  This class was informative and interesting…I recommend that every landlord take this class. It was invaluable.”
-Scott Ficek, Real Estate Agent

“In my practice, I frequently represent residential Landlords and receive phone calls from prospective clients asking, ‘What do I need to know about being a Landlord?’  My answer these days: Read HOME Line’s How to be the Smartest Renter on Your Block.”
-Jason T. Hutchinson, Attorney at Law

The cost is $45 per attendee.  Register early (by Monday 5/14/12) and pay only $40.

Our book on Minnesota tenant landlord/law, How to be the Smartest Renter on Your Block will available for $15 if purchased in advance, and can be picked up at the training. To purchase in advance, you will have an option during registration/check-out via the form below.

Please fill out the registration form below and when you submit it, it will bring you to an option to pay online.  If registering multiple attendees, please chose the appropriate number of attendees. If you choose to pay online for multiple attendees, you must choose that each person pays $40 training fee or each pays $55 for the training & a copy of our book.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

If a management company or other agency would like to hire a HOME Line attorney to give a speech at your office, contact Deb Riebel at 612-728-5770 (x109) or at debr@homelinemn.org

Do you want to learn about how Minnesota laws affect renters?  How you—as a law student, community advocate, attorney, or social service agency staff—can assist tenants with their rental problems?

Would you like to volunteer at HOME Line?
Our free tenant/landlord law training for volunteers is coming up soon. We also offer this training for other community members, social service providers, and CLE credit for attorneys (there is a fee for non-volunteers).

Landlord/Tenant Law Training
Saturday, May 19th, 2012
9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (volunteers: please arrive at 8:30 a.m.)
William Mitchell College of Law (St. Paul), Room #125
875 Summit Ave. St. Paul MN 55105 

More info and registration…
HOME Line conducts trainings three times per year to prepare volunteers to work on our tenant hotline. We also invite anyone interested in learning landlord-tenant law to attend. This one day training has been attended by over 160 different social service agency workers, landlords, and police officers in the last four years in addition to scores of law student volunteers. In our training seminar, HOME Line attorneys teach basic Minnesota landlord-tenant law. Specific topics include applications, leases, repairs, evictions, lock-outs, and security deposits.

We are applying for 5 CLE credits for this seminar. The fee to receive CLE credits is $50 for attorneys with incomes below $30,000, or public interest attorneys; $75 for all other attorneys. For non-volunteers and non-CLE seekers, the cost of the training is $30 per person.

Those who plan to volunteer for HOME Line must attend the seminar, free of charge of course.

Please click here to register if you are a law student intending to volunteer with us! Registration is free for volunteers.

Please click here to register if you are an attorney or staff of social service agency! Paid registration is for agency staff or for attorney CLE credit.

Those interested in volunteering: For more information please contact Deb Riebel at debr@homelinemn.org or 612-728-5770 x109.

All attendees will receive a training manual, continental breakfast, and lunch.

HOME Line’s Managing Attorney, Mike Vraa, shared insights on KARE 11 News into what challenges current and prospective renters face with the Twin Cities currently tight rental market. In addition to seeing more frequent and larger rent increases, renters who have imperfect rental or credit histories are finding it difficult to locate landlords that will accept them.

Low vacancy rates across the metro also creates barriers for families looking for affordable housing. For example, The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently estimated that to afford the $806 Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment a Minnesota household must earn a “housing wage” of $15.50/hour. That means a minimum wage earner ($7.25/hour) would need to work 86 hours per week to afford their housing.

Renters having trouble applying for apartments or negotiating rent increases can call our free tenant hotline for advice (612-728-5767 or 1-866-866-3546, toll free from outside metro) or consider purchasing our renters rights book for more guidance how to successfully navigate the rental market. Want to advocate for more affordable housing? The Minnesota Legislature is considering proposals to provide $40 million in funding for affordable housing production and preservation. Call your legislators to ask them to support the bills.

Housing vacancies scarce in Minneapolis
—Shayne Wells, KARE 11 News, 3/21/12

HOME Line’s Senior Housing Attorney, Paul Birnberg, was featured in a FOX 9 News report on renters affected by landlord foreclosure. Mr. Birnberg commented that while renters may have trouble identifying a soon-to-be foreclosed rental property before moving in, neither the landlord nor the bank can force them out until at least 6 months after the sheriffs sale–sometimes longer. HOME Line received nearly 1,000 calls from renters across the state affected by landlord foreclosure in 2011.

For more resources and information for renters affected by landlord foreclosure, check out our foreclosure page here or call our free tenant hotline: 612-728-5767 or 1-866-866-3546 (toll free from outside metro).

Foreclosure Leaves Renting Family in Limbo
—Erik Runge, FOX 9 News, 3/19/12

A reminder that HOME Line is offering a series of CLE webinars and trainings over the next few months. You can view more information and/or register for any training or webinar here on our website or by choosing an option below:

• Thursday, 4/26/12, noon-1pm: 1 credit CLE Webinar on “Basics of Estate Planning/Preparing for Death and Worse”
• Wednesday, 5/23/12, 9am-2:20pm: 5-credit CLE Webinar–3 Ethics credits & 2 Elimination of Bias credits
• Tuesday June 19, 5pm-9:20pm: Evening Rebroadcast of our 5-credit CLE Webinar
• Thursday June 28, 9am-2:20pm: Weekday Rebroadcast of our 5-credit CLE Webinar
• Wednesday July 18, 9am-2:20pm: Weekday Rebroadcast of our 5-credit CLE Webinar

HOME Line will host a legal education webinar – a 5 CLE-credit seminar, broadcast live over the web on May 23, 2012. The webinar will count for 3.0 hours of Ethics and 2.0 hours of Elimination of Bias CLE credits by the Minnesota State Board of CLE (credits are currently awaiting approval).

Those who register attend by internet and submit written questions via the webinar Q&A chat system.  The webinar will include live video, audio lecture from attorney presenters, and on-screen PowerPoint presentations.  Written electronic materials will be provided to registrants in advance.  A system test for ensuring you have access to the webinar is available here.

Click below to learn more and register online.

The seminars and times will be as follows with five-minute scheduled breaks between each session, all on Wednesday, May 23rd:

Second Annual Full Ethics and Elimination of Bias Training – Not Just for Public Interest Attorneys

• 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. – “Unbundled Services: Pros, Cons, & Ethical Implications” by Randall Ryder, a consumer rights lawyer specializing in suing abusive debt collectors and representing consumers in debt collection lawsuits (1.0 hour CLE Ethics credit applied for).
• 10:05 a.m. to 11:05 a.m. — “Ethical Challenges when Pursuing Debts and Collecting Judgments” by Steven Toms, an associate attorney at Como Law Firm who has practiced collection law for 10 years. (1.0 hour CLE Ethics credit applied for)
• 11:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. — “Virtuous Discovery in the Virtual World – Ethical Considerations in Conducting Electronic Discovery” by Katherine Kelly, senior associate at Heins Mills & Olson, P.L.C, who represents individual and corporate clients in antitrust and product liability litigation. (1.0 hour CLE Ethics credit applied for)
• 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. — “The Elusive Search for Justice in Pro Se Litigation” by Judge Jay Quam. Judge Quam is the current Presiding Judge of Probate / Mental Health Court in Hennepin County.  (1.0 hour CLE Elimination of Bias credit applied for)
• 1:20 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. — “Navigating Boundaries: Setting Sail With A Mentally Ill Client” by Emily Cooper, Partner, Cooper & Reid, who concentrates on representing low-income and culturally diverse clients. (1.0 hour CLE Elimination of Bias credit applied for)

Prices are set at very affordable rates, depending on which credits you wish to obtain:

• $100 for the entire 5-hour seminar,
• $60 for 3 hours of Ethics seminars,
• $50 for 2 hours of Elimination of Bias seminars,
• or $25/hour for each individual hour.

Last year $186 million in cuts were enacted that reduced the amount of rent paid for which your refund is calculated from 19% to 17%. This year state legislators are proposing even further cuts to this program that assists nearly 300,000 low-income seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low-income renters across the state. To learn more and to find out how you can help advocate for the Renters Credit, check out our policy blog here.