On Thursday, Minnesota senators in the Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee are meeting at the State Capitol. One of the bills on their agenda today would create protections for homebuyers who sign on to a contract-for-deed.

That’s where instead of taking out a mortgage loan, you pay in installments. It offers a path to home ownership for people who struggle to get approved for a loan or don’t want one. Many Muslims, for example, do not pay or earn interest as part of their faith, and members of the Somali community have lost homes and huge sums of money to these deals.

State and federal lawmakers have introduced reforms in response to work by Sahan Journal and Propublica. Jessica Lussenhop, a Propublica reporter based in in Minneapolis, joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about it.