Minneapolis triples the fine for property owners who leave buildings vacant

Amid frustration over the growing number of empty buildings, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to change an ordinance governing how vacant buildings that are condemned, hazardous, and may have multiple code violations, are addressed.

The changes, authored by Ward 2 Council Member Robin Wonsley, add additional accountability measures to the vacant building registration ordinance. This includes limiting the registration of any one vacant building to two years, with a one-year extension granted only if the property owner has done work to make the building compliant with city code.

The changes also increase the amount a property owner would have to pay to leave their building vacant for more than two years without working to make their buildings code-compliant. Property owners could face up to $24,000 in fines annually and be subject to the code enforcement process if they don’t do anything to bring their buildings into code compliance. Property owners currently pay a $7,087 registration fee per building they wish to enroll in the program.

Before the changes, the ordinance did not stipulate how long buildings could be registered as vacant before the city can take enforcement action.

Lisa Norling, a Prospect Park resident who lives next to a vacant building, hails changes to the ordinance, testifying at a July 9 city council meeting that the building in question, whose bricks from a chimney have fallen onto her property, has been vacant for over a decade.

"I’d love there to be some time limit on this, because I think [the owner] is not in the condition to do anything about it," she said.

The ordinance changes come as the city struggles to handle a growing number of vacant buildings. As of July 17, the city’s condemned properties dashboard reported 311 vacant buildings , up from 215 in 2021 . A presentation by city staff made on July 9 found 94 buildings have been on the registry for five or more years . At least one building, in northeast Minneapolis, has been on the registry since 2001.

The ordinance changes also come as homelessness in Hennepin County has increased since the pandemic began. In January, Hennepin County counted 3,857 people experiencing homelessness, compared to 3,049 in January 2020 .

"We know we’re experiencing a housing crisis, we see with a growing number of encampments across the city, but also knowing that there are a substantial number of residents that are facing housing insecurity at any given time," Wonsley said in a March interview.

"And what we are told is we need to create more supply to meet the demand. But the matter is, actually we do have thousands of units that are a part of our current supply that have been sitting empty, that people in need of housing are not able to access."