Star Tribune
Tool for oversight or discrimination?
A long-simmering debate over cities’ ability to regulate group homes has landed at the State Capitol, as housing providers claim rental licenses have become a “backdoor tool to discriminate” against Minnesotans with disabilities.
State lawmakers are considering an exemption from local rental licensing regulations for assisted living facilities and residential programs for people with disabilities that have six or fewer residents. Municipalities are pushing back on the idea, saying it would remove an important mechanism to quickly respond to bad actors.
“This type of city authority is intended to ensure that any health and safety needs can be addressed effectively and promptly,” said Patricia Nauman, who leads Metro Cities, an association representing metro area municipalities. She noted group home residents are potentially most affected by issues at a property.
Thousands of Minnesotans live in group homes operated by various organizations. The small residential facilities house people who need a wide range of supports to live, including people with developmental or physical disabilities, mental illness or traumatic brain injuries.
Local oversight of group homes has been in the spotlight in recent years after New Hope revoked the rental permits of two assisted living facilities that served people with disabilities, including tenants who had mental health and substance use disorders.
The housing providers sued, claiming the city had violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Their lawsuit highlighted a controversial comment from New Hope City Council Member Jonathan London, who said in a meeting that, “They need to realize that not everyone can live next door in a residential setting.” A judge dismissed the case.
London said last week that he stands by his comment, and while he isn’t advocating for a return to institutionalization he believes some people need to be in a hospital. There has been an “exploding” number of group homes in New Hope, London said, and a facility the council shut down in his community did not have staff with sufficient training to meet clients’ needs, putting both group home residents and neighbors in danger.
State officials are slow to respond to reported problems, London said, and he contended cities are closer to the daily operations of providers and should retain power over the rental licenses.
Instances of cities revoking a group home rental license are rare in Minnesota. But providers said they are worried cities are also wielding the licenses to keep people out of their communities.
Cities are getting aggressive in punishing rental properties where there are a lot of police calls, said Josh Berg, an Elko New Market City Council member who works at Accessible Space, which houses people with disabilities and traumatic brain injuries.
“In their opinion it’s a drain on the police and the fire and the resources of the community,” he said, noting cities would not penalize a homeowner who needed to make a lot of emergency calls.
Assisted living facilities and group homes for people with disabilities already undergo a robust licensing and inspection process, and the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center is the appropriate entity to handle concerns, not cities, Berg said.
Glenn Berland has lived in a four-person group home operated by Accessible Space for more than 30 years. Before that, his sister Gloria Hoffman said he was in a larger institution and would often ask to move out, wishing for a place where he could feel more independent.
Berland, 70, was in a car accident when he was 17 that limited his mobility and ability to communicate. But he taps his feet and will occasionally join in on a Beatles song when his brother-in-law strums the guitar on the back patio of the group home, which sits at the end of a residential block in Coon Rapids.
His small room brims with Packers and Beatles decor. A big window by his bed looks out at bird feeders his sister placed in the front yard.
“It’s really a home environment,” Hoffman said during a visit with her brother Friday. “I think anybody would want that for their family or for their loved one, or for themselves.”
Minnesota decided decades ago to shift people out of institutions with the goal of having people live in home-like settings in the community of their choice, said Barb Turner, with Beacon Specialized Living. Support for that philosophy seemingly has shifted, she said, as group homes are housing people with more serious behavioral challenges.
Some communities are very welcoming to group homes, she said, but if providers just gravitate toward those places it would limit where people can live and unfairly burden some cities.
“To me it’s the slippery slope,” Turner said. “If every city acted like New Hope, then where would we go?”
Many cities already do not require rental licensing for group homes and lawmakers should make that consistent across the state, said Rep. Brion Curran, DFL-Vadnais Heights, who is the carrying the bill to exempt certain providers from local rental licensing regulations.
“Our neighbors with disabilities, like all of us, deserve to live in a friendly neighborhood free from discrimination and scrutiny,” said Curran, who previously worked for a nonprofit that provides group homes.
The League of Minnesota Cities opposes the bill. But Daniel Lightfoot, with the League, suggested the legislation could be tweaked so that it doesn’t completely remove municipalities’ ability to impose the licenses on group homes, but makes it clear that “rental licensing shall not have the effect of prohibiting group homes.”
Trevor Turner, with the Minnesota Council on Disability, echoed that message and suggested the bill could add a clause saying those housing providers are exempt — if they meet certain requirements. He said he doesn’t want to see discrimination, but noted city licensure can provide an important additional layer of housing oversight, particularly in greater Minnesota.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
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