Rochester, Minnesota, Gives Free Help to Remove Race-Based Deed Restrictions

The City of Rochester, Minnesota, recently reaffirmed its commitment to eliminating discriminatory deed covenants. City leaders are working with the Just Deeds Coalition.

The Just Deeds Coalition has already “discharged” hundreds of discriminatory covenants and restrictions that were created to limit who could buy real estate. Some of the language excludes people with certain disabilities, non-White or non-Christian people, and people of Asian ancestry.

Rochester, the county seat of Olmsted County, is now joining the restorative work underway in Hennepin County, home to Minneapolis.

Following the Pioneering Work in Hennepin County

Ten years ago, the University of Minnesota launched the Mapping Prejudice project to track race-based deed restrictions. The research began in Hennepin County—home to Minneapolis.

The project is dedicated to confronting the racial exclusions that were included in deeds for many decades. These “racial covenants” helped reserve well-funded schools and other desirable neighborhood features for a favored group of people.

Well into the mid-1900s, real estate groups and financial institutions supported the practice of writing race-based restrictions into neighborhood deeds. Government policy also incentivized buyers to purchase homes in race-restricted neighborhoods by offering favorable mortgage terms. Recording offices throughout the United States became the official keepers of these racially divisive deeds.

At the state level, Minnesota banned race-based deed restrictions in the 1950s, and the federal Fair Housing Act prohibited them nationwide in 1968. Under the U.S. Constitution and modern law and policy, no one should be excluded from housing because of race, religion, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, or familial status. Today, deed restrictions based on these personal traits are unenforceable.

But that does not mean the divisive words have disappeared from county records. When Mapping Prejudice volunteers searched the county’s records for race-based language, they found tens of thousands of Minnesota homes with racial exclusions embedded in their chains of title. Minnesota is not the only state with tens of thousands of deeds containing unconstitutional restrictions.

Minnesota law does not permit the original deed language to be deleted, even when that language is now illegal and unenforceable.

By 2019, however, Minnesota allowed individual deed holders to renounce offensive language. Pro bono lawyers with the Just Deeds Coalition help owners record declarations that formally renounce the language, and many Minnesota cities and towns have joined the effort.

The Map Spreads Outward

By 2020, the mapping had expanded to Ramsey County, Minnesota—home to the suburb of Mounds View. By 2024, Mounds View had become the first Minnesota city to remove discriminatory restrictions from land records through certificates of compliance.

The city sent notices and discharge forms to residents whose deeds contained racially exclusive restrictions. City leaders also renounced the race-based restrictions in deeds for city-owned property.

The city established a notarization process for residents who bring their certificates to City Hall for recording. Ramsey County offers a fee waiver.

Sellers now must remove race-based deed restrictions before transferring their property. For example, language stating that “persons not of the Caucasian race” are excluded from living in a home may not remain unaddressed when title is transferred.

This represents a significant shift in deed law. Although recorded deeds were once treated as unchangeable historical documents, fairness and restorative action now play a larger role.

Welcoming Just Deeds to Rochester, Minnesota

Mapping Prejudice is now mapping Rochester. The goal is to identify and address discriminatory deed restrictions affecting Rochester homes. Although these offensive restrictions are no longer enforceable, they remain in county records.

Under Resolution 051-21, Rochester joined the Just Deeds Project. The Rochester NAACP is participating in the collaborative effort to review Olmsted County deed records using Mapping Prejudice tools.

The City of Rochester has created notices for deed holders whose title histories contain discriminatory covenants. These notices are not intended to blame current owners for the offensive language of the past, nor do they force anyone to act. Residents who choose to participate receive free access to the Just Deeds Project.

Deed holders may submit an online form. According to the city’s website:

If you are a property owner in the City of Rochester and would like to have a property reviewed to remove a restrictive covenant from your property title, please complete the form. A City teammate will review your form and will contact you. This is a free service.

Alternatively, deed holders may email justdeeds@rochestermn.gov for guidance. The City of Rochester has designated staff members to answer questions and assist with the process. Residents may also volunteer.

Participation benefits everyone, including property owners. Offensive language in a deed is not a desirable feature in a property’s title history.

More States Become Part of the Groundswell

In 2022, Missouri enacted a racial covenant deletion law after the state recorders’ association lobbied for legislation. Missouri had already barred enforcement of race-based deed restrictions in 1993, but residents still lacked a process for removing unconstitutional language from recorded deeds.

Creating that process took time. On the Missouri legislature’s second attempt, lawmakers enacted a law allowing unconstitutional restrictions to be deleted. Deed holders and title companies may now remove discriminatory language before recording a deed. Owners who do not want to wait until a future transfer may use a one-page form and pay a $24 processing fee.

The growing list of states that have taken similar steps includes California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. About half of the states have taken some form of action.

Normalizing the “Just Deed”: A 21st-Century Legal Trend

For decades after race-based deed language was deemed unconstitutional, it remained in property records and chains of title. The language was preserved because deeds were treated as complete historical records of ownership. That was simply how the law operated.

Over the past decade, legal changes have spread across the country. States and counties continue to update their rules for addressing discriminatory deed language.

Restrictive deed covenants caused financial inequities that affected generations. Property law now has an important role to play in making society fairer for everyone.