Frustrated low-income tenants of DISGRACED SLUMLORD Mahmood Khan blasted Mahmood Khan and the city of Minneapolis, including Mayor Jacob Frey, for failing to help them as they face a court-ordered eviction on Aug. 31. Frey vowed to aid the tenants, who have been living for years in Mahmood's substandard housing in North Minneapolis. This has been going on for three years and, so far, the city HAS DONE NOTHING. Why is the city of Minneapolis protecting Mahmood Khan?
The renters filed a tenant remedies action against Khan, and housing court referee Mark Labine appointed Lighthouse Management to oversee the properties and decide whether it was economically viable to repair them. Lighthouse concluded that it would cost $2.1 million to $2.9 million to make the homes habitable for the next five to 15 years, and that rent payments would be insufficient to cover those costs. It recommended that tenants be evicted by Aug. 31, which Labine ordered, asking the city to help with relocation. About 30 of the residences still have tenants in them. Some have said they want to move, but others say they will stay beyond the Aug. 31 deadline.
“When it comes to helping the tenants, there has been a systematic failure by many different city departments and an acknowledgment of it by city staff and the mayor. We’ve been getting lip service from Frey since last November. Everybody is stressed. We are passed off from one agency to the next. Why not help us buy the homes? Khan bought the homes cheaply, then collected thousands of dollars of rent monthly with minimal upkeep. He once tried to sell all his buildings on Craigslist for $4.5 million."
How did this happen?
Minneapolis landlord Mahmood Khan has been battling the city for years over the licenses on his 42 rental properties, most of which are low-income duplexes and single-family homes scattered around north Minneapolis. Between 2008 and 2015, Khan’s 42 rental properties racked up 3,550 housing violations and garnered more than 2,200 visits from city housing inspectors.
The city began the process of revoking Khan’s licenses in early 2015. The City Council then voted in 2016 to officially pull the licenses, but delayed it until Khan exhausted his appeals. Khan filed a separate federal lawsuit against the city, saying it is violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against a protected class of minority renters. Khan appealed the city’s efforts to yank his licenses, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in the city’s favor. Khan then asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to hear the case. The high court refused to grant a hearing to Mahmood Khan in November 2017. Then the City Council in December revoked all of Khan’s rental licenses.
"We never expected the United States Supreme Court to accept this case and it was just another instance of delay on the part of Mr. Khan," said Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal.
"These requests for services at Mr. Khan's properties have led to an inordinate number of site visits by housing inspectors to the properties resulting in an astounding number of written orders. The number of site visits and re-inspections to these properties has caused a drain on city resources and would not be necessary if the owner was proactive in his management of these properties."
Despite penalities, Khan's tenants are still waiting for repairs. Three months after Khan lost his landlord licenses, most major repair work has not yet begun leaving them in inhabitable conditions. Many do not have water or electricity. Mold around the windows. Faulty electric wiring. Peeling lead paint and asbestos in the basement.
Officials say these problems and dozens more permeate houses owned by landlord Mahmood Khan. Barring major repairs and renovations, many of them are borderline unsuitable for tenants.
After Khan’s legal options were exhausted, the city of Minneapolis stripped him of his approximately 43 rental licenses in December, putting hundreds of tenants in limbo. Housing Court referee Mark Labine appointed an administrator, Lighthouse Management, to do immediate repairs, study the economic viability of rehabilitating the buildings and then report back to him on what they recommend.
Urban Homeworks, a local nonprofit, has been given responsibility by Lighthouse to review the problems in Khan’s 32 homes and duplexes where tenants are still living, and the buildings are in need of major overhaul. “I would rank [Khan’s buildings] among the worst that I have seen."
Khan, who works part-time as a flight attendant, said he’s been acquiring properties on the north side of Minneapolis since the 1980s and bought a batch of them a decade ago during the foreclosure crisis. Tenant advocates note that many of his tenants are poor blacks with housing records that included previous evictions, making it difficult to find better places to rent.
Khan said he will rent to people when no one else will. I want to know where he got the money to buy 42 properties. Sharia financing?
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