Northfield, Faribault HRAs approve funds for CAC to help those ‘living in fear’ pay rent

By Colton Kemp, Northfield News

March 17, 2026

The city of Northfield stood in stark contrast to the city of Faribault during their simultaneous meetings in mid-February — though Faribault reversed course some weeks later.

The same night Faribault City Council declined a request for $50,000 to bolster funds for the Community Action Center (CAC) to provide rental assistance, the Northfield Housing & Redevelopment Authority (HRA) approved the request — with one member even asking about providing more funding than requested. The Faribault HRA approved the transfer after the CAC returned to the city a third time with the same request at an HRA meeting March 9.

The funds were requested as many families remain shuttered inside their homes out of fear for U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement following the heightened immigration enforcement throughout the state during Operation Metro Surge.

“Right now, people are living in fear — not just those who maybe don’t have documentation status, but people who are citizens,” CAC interim Executive Director Anika Rychner said at the Northfield meeting. “This is having a widespread effect on our community.”

On Feb. 6, when Rychner said she was preparing her presentation, the CAC had just over 100 requests for financial assistance. By Feb. 17, that number had risen to more than 250 countywide. Extrapolating from Census data, she estimated the number could reach up to 450 families.

The requests to Rice County cities came the same week the CAC’s rental-assistance funding ran out, Rychner told the Northfield HRA. She said the $50,000 “might cover a little over 50 families just to stabilize their housing for one month.”

Rychner presented the economic impact of 50 families with one head of household earning $18 an hour for 35 hours a week. She said to assume 70% of that income is spent locally, with a “conservative local multiplier of 1.4.”

“That’s when each dollar spent locally circulates through the community,” Rychner said of the local multiplier. “That becomes roughly $265,000 in local economic activity reduction in just over two months, or 60 days — and that doesn’t include overtime costs for employers, production slowdowns … not to mention school enrollment volatility.”

Residents packed the Faribault City Council chambers to show support and opposition to the funding allocation Feb. 17. Faribault City Council’s funding for the CAC would’ve come from State Affordable Housing Aid, money from the state earmarked for emergency rental assistance or affordable housing projects.

There were a few reasons for the ultimate denial by Faribault City Council, including the state funds were required to only benefit U.S. citizens. Mayor Tom Spooner said it was the first time the council had a “real partisan issue” on their hands.

“That insinuation that, if I vote no for this that I’m a racist, is disgusting — and it makes me so angry because I’m not,” Faribault Councilor Chuck Thiele said. “I’m not in favor of this. I think it’s too small of a Band-Aid for way too big of a problem. It’s just one drop in a big bucket.”

In Northfield, the funds came out of the HRA’s reserves. It was also noted that the HRA already gave $50,000 to the CAC for the same purpose earlier this year.

“I think sometimes these requests are seen as a charity or a grant,” she said. “I think it’s important for our community to know that this truly impacts all of us in different ways, and that to maintain people in their own housing is much more cost effective than paying for all of the costs to come, if these families lose their housing.”

Economic ‘Band-Aid’

Northfield HRA Board member Jessica Peterson White asked if Rychner had any guesses as to how long families might be sheltering out of fear.

“I think nobody does know how long people are going to be afraid,” Rychner responded. “That’s a very personal thing. My hope is that, as immigration enforcement lessons, that people will feel safer to come out and to do more things and get to work, but I think time will tell. I think, when we’ve talked about this approach, some might say ‘It feels like a Band-Aid’ or ‘We’re paying now, but what happens in two, three months?’ I don’t know, but I know that it will be more costly if we don’t address the current crisis.”

Mayor Erica Zweifel asked about the economic impact of the students who are missing school, and Councilor Brad Ness said he’d spoken to Northfield Public Schools Superintendent Matt Hillmann who estimated the district loses about $10,000 per student.

Zweifel’s second question reportedly came from constituents, and asked why this approach is better than an eviction moratorium.

“I think that there were unintended consequences of the eviction moratorium during COVID,” Rychner said. “I think we saw that in different ways across the state. I think, at the end of the day, you’re kind of kicking the can down the road. If we don’t solve it now, it will still be there in a month, in two months and three months. We saw people having a really hard time catching up.”

Zweifel began the comment portion of the discussion by thanking the CAC for their work and expressing her support for the request.

“I think this is so smart to move forward in this way, to catch it at this point and to help people in this moment, keep them in their homes,” she said. “They’re valuable, contributing members of our community, and to be able to keep them here is something that I’m really grateful that we have the opportunity to do that.”

Peterson White also thanked the CAC and noted that the economic-impact estimates are “probably extremely conservative.”

“I think this is a great way to use reserve funds,” Ness said. “Got $1.5 million in reserves, so this is just a small piece of that, but it’s a fabulous use of that money.”

Member Davin Sokup also supported transferring the funds to the CAC.

“I think keeping people in the homes they already have is not only the cheapest way … to help, but it’s also life shattering when someone loses their home,” he said.

Member Chad Beumer, who typically advocates for a more fiscally conservative spending model, spoke up last.

“If you deem that there’s need for additional funds later, is that something that we were open to them coming back, or is it something where we maybe make an amendment to the motion at hand at this point to maybe increase the funds out the gate?” he asked.

After staff clarified that the request would mean the CAC has received a total of $100,000 this year from the HRA, City Administrator Ben Martig said city staff will closely monitor the situation at the CAC and “be ready to respond … should there be a need to come back.”

“With that being said, then I would just want to make sure that the CAC understands that we’re here for you if you need us, so don’t be afraid to come back,” Beumer told Rychner.

Rychner thanked the HRA for their support, adding that the volunteers will be happy to see it.

“I don’t think there’s a scenario in which I would not ever vote for this need,” Sokup said. “My only concern is that, when funds continue to come out of the HRA, then we are less able to do other housing, which I think is what I see as the most important need in Northfield right now. So I would love to have a discussion, if we do come back, about where the funds come from … But I just want to make it clear that I don’t think there is a better use for funds than keeping people who live here in the homes that they have already.”

All but one HRA member approved, with member Kathleen Holmes abstaining.

Different framing

The audience was virtually empty in Northfield, just as Faribault City Councilor and HRA member Mandy Barnes said was the case at the March 9 Faribault HRA meeting.

“It was nobody,” she said. “It was only city staff, the HRA and [Rychner] — that was it. I expected some more people too.”

Faribault City Administrator Jessica Kinser clarified Monday the Faribault HRA and City Council are two independent bodies, and Community and Economic Developer David Wanberg said last week the funds came out of the HRA’s own funds.

“I would say the wordage that they used was a lot different,” Barnes recalled of the most recent Faribault HRA meeting. “Anika [Rychner] said ‘Put aside the ICE, the immigrants and the immigration. Put that totally aside.’ She stated, ‘We have had an unprecedented [number of] requests in the last several months.’”

Barnes said Rychner reported the CAC has given roughly $200,000 to families for rental assistance so far this year.

“So that was the verbiage that was used,” Barnes added. “I think three times she said, ‘Just put all that aside. We need money to pay for rent.’”

Barnes said the HRA voted 5-2 to allocate the funding.

Although immigration enforcement was “put aside” at the Faribault meeting, many families in Rice County aren’t afforded that option. Northfield-based Spanish interpreter Krissa Anderson said “most people are going out at this point,” but some are still sheltering in their homes.

For example, a family of seven living in Northfield is still sheltering at home due to trauma the family’s matriarch said lingers from Operation Metro Surge.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the mother showed a video of ICE agents documenting license plates of every vehicle parked at their apartment complex. She also showed a video of ICE agents wearing hard hats and reflective vests to disguise themselves as utility workers.

She recalled the worst day, when she heard her neighbor’s wife screaming not to take her husband away during a door-to-door operation. When the agents started banging on their own apartment door, she described trying to stifle the fearful cries of her youngest boys out of fear that the agents might hear them inside.

“We can’t go for groceries; we can’t take our kids to school. We’re scared to even take out the trash, because we don’t want them to break up our family,” the mother said through her teenage daughter’s translation. “There have been nights when we couldn’t sleep. It’s been traumatizing for everyone in our family.”

The family has received help from the CAC in coordinating the delivery of groceries.