Frey housing initiative beats goal.

Byline: Kevin Featherly

By one key measure, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's pro-bono housing initiative is ahead of schedule in its efforts to represent clients in eviction defense, rent escrow and tenant-remedy actions.

A one-year goal of the More Representation Minneapolis initiative was to increase legal assistance to Twin Cities tenants by 20%. As measured by attorney hours logged, that goal was achieved three months ahead of schedule, Frey said last week.

Attorneys with the Volunteer Lawyers Network have logged 2,300 hours of pro-bono support for Twin Cities tenants. That's up from 1,900 hours last yeara 20% increase.

Frey, himself an attorney, announced the push last November. At the time, 12 law firms were signed up to help with the effort, which is anchored by the Volunteer Lawyers Network and Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. Now 16 law firms are involved.

Having a lawyer can make a "staggering" difference, Frey said. Almost 80% of tenants who have a lawyer but end up moving out of a dwelling leave court with no eviction record, he said. Just 6% manage to do that with no attorney, he said.

Overall, fewer than 10% of tenants facing eviction in Hennepin County have lawyers, while roughly half of landlords are represented by counsel. "Through More Representation Minneapolis, our pro-bono legal community is doing life changing work," Frey said.

In an interview Monday, Volunteer Lawyers Network Resource Attorney Muria Kruger said client representation has increased across all of her group's housing categorieswhich includes rent escrow, eviction expungements and evictions.

A new, city-funded Eviction Representation Pilot program is responsible for at least some of that...