A Minnesota city will rewrite an anti-crime law seen as harming mentally ill residents

By JOHN HANNA
Associated Press

A Minnesota city and the U.S. Department of Justice have reached an agreement addressing allegations the city discriminated against mentally ill residents in enforcing an anti-crime law. The department announced its agreement Tuesday with the Minneapolis suburb of Anoka. Although the city denied wrongdoing, it agreed not to disclose private medical information about renters with mental health issues and pay $175,000. The Department of Justice alleged that Anoka pressured landlords to evict mentally ill tenants and gave them tenants’ private medical information. The DOJ said that in at least 780 cases from 2018 through mid-2023, the city issued weekly reports to landlords sharing details about people’s mental health crises.