Both tenants and landlords have rights. But what are they?

Like many sprawling metropolitan areas across the country, the Twin Cities faces an affordable housing crisis that taps into a slew of other issues, such as racial disparities, and economic and income-based inequities. But even with a shortage of available housing, tenants and landlords, alike, still have certain rights.

For example, you have the right to live anywhere you want to, as long as you can afford the rent and honor the terms of the lease. Wherever you choose to live, you have both rights and responsibilities, and so does your landlord. If both tenant and landlord follow the rules and do the right thing, a rented house or apartment becomes a safe, friendly place for you and your family to live, as this series of multilingual videos explains (you'll find them in English, Hmong, Karen, Somali and Spanish).

For decades, Twin Cities PBS has covered stories about homelessness and affordable housing. Check out our collection “Under One Roof: Stories of Minnesota’s Housing Crisis.”

“Get a job!” “Go to a shelter!” So many misconceptions swirl around the issue of homelessness in Minnesota, many of them driven by persistent stereotypes. Explore five of the most prevalent – and false – notions about what it means to be homeless in our state.

As the 2020 legislative session kicked off, many lawmakers have put Minnesota’s housing crisis under a microscope. From funding ideas and others solutions to relieve the shortage of affordable housing to a tour of two Twin Cities homeless shelters, the March 4, 2020 episode of Almanac at the Capitol zoomed in on how lawmakers are addressing the state’s housing crunch.

Both Minneapolis and Saint Paul have long histories of enforcing racially restricted housing covenants aimed at deliberately discriminating against people of color and who practice certain religions. To learn more about redlining in the Twin Cities, watch “Jim Crow of the North.”