Get Organized

• Use HB101’s Build a Housing Team activity to organize contact information related to the people who can help you.
• Make sure you have legal identification, including a Minnesota State ID or Driver’s License, your Social Security Card, and if you are not a United States citizen, your Green Card (officially known as a Permanent Resident Card).
• Use the Vault’s Benefits Lookup activity to ask for information from the state of Minnesota about your benefits.

Your Rights

• The Office of the Minnesota Attorney General has a handbook of landlord and tenant rights and responsibilities.
• HousingLink has a list of legal resources that can help you, including links to statewide legal services programs.
• LawHelpMN.org has detailed information about housing discrimination and what you can do about it.
• HousingLink also has basic information about fair housing rights and how to file a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, and the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights.
• The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) guarantees additional rights that can help you find and keep housing if you are a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking.
• NOLO also has good information about the housing rights of people with disabilities.

Credit and Income

• Get a free copy of your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.
• A few of the nonprofits that help you plan for dealing with debt and other money issues in Minnesota are:
  • LSS Financial Counseling
  • Consumer Credit of Minnesota, and
  • FamilyMeans Financial Solutions.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains how to get and keep a good credit history.
• Hands on Banking explains how to build credit, maintain it, and repair it.
• MyCreditUnion.gov has tips for choosing, using, and managing credit cards.
• Practical Money Skills offers a series of articles on understanding credit.
• The World Institute on Disability has an interactive online course on credit (free account registration required).

Criminal Record

• Search public criminal history data online at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
• The National Reentry Resource Center has a list of second chance/reentry programs in Minnesota.
• Try these legal resources that can help with expungement or sealing of a criminal record:
  • LawHelpMN.org
  • Your local legal aid office
  • The Volunteer Lawyers Network
  • Expungement resources listed on the Minnesota Courts website
• Beyond Backgrounds is a program that helps people with past problems get housing. It also can help property owners and managers rent to people who have had problems in the past.

Rental History

• Get a copy of your tenant screening report. Lawhelpmn.org has more details about getting this report and how to use it.
• If you’ve been evicted, see if you can expunge the eviction from your public record. Here are resources that can help:
  • LawHelpMN answers frequently asked questions about expungement of an eviction.
  • LawHelpMN also has a do-it-yourself guide to expungement.
  • Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) has eviction expungement tips.
• Try the HB101 Vault’s Write a Letter path to see if a letter would help you. Types of letters it could help you write include:
  • Reasonable Accommodation Letters
  • Appeal Letters, and
  • Explanation Letters.