A town hall about the Lansing housing crisis
Shawn Brock is a member of the tenants’ rights advocacy group “Rent Is Too Damn High”, and he began a town hall on June 24 by condemning sweeps of unhoused people in the area.
“You may push somebody, decide or force them somewhere, but the problem still exists,” he said. “That goes into the problem of continuing with the sweeps, because you are just forcing somebody to find a new spot, shake up their entire life.”
Brock’s said forcing unhoused people to move away doesn’t solve homelessness, as they often lose their belongings and end up in another encampment. “It isn’t a crime to be on the list, right?” he asked. “Oftentimes, you see folks who are in a very tough position, and for one reason or another, are taken away. And it all starts because they may be out on the sidewalk.”
The “Rent Is Too Damn High” organization convened a community forum on June 24th at the Fledge in Lansing to address the current housing crisis. Joined by other rights organizations, such as Homeless Union and Student High, the meeting served as a platform for unhoused residents, advocates, and a panel of elected officials to discuss the systemic failures of the local housing market.
The panel included Natasha Atkinson (chief of staff for State Rep. Emily Dievendorf), Ingham County Register of Deeds Derrick Quinney, County Commissioner Robert Peña and Lansing City Council members Ryan Kost and Trini Pehlivanoglu.
The discussion was also centered on the “Homeless Bill of Rights” and the ethics of municipal camp sweeps, increasing funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and the necessity of establishing safe parking zones for those living in vehicles.
The meeting marked the beginning of a summer series by the organization, intended to mobilize people toward tangible legislative changes.
Several people said that without immediate intervention, the gap between rising rents and stagnant wages will continue to displace the city’s most vulnerable populations. Elected officials weighed in.
“You look at an area like Dietrich Park,” Kost said, “and what was going on there, the city did not do, in my opinion, a very good job on that. And I really wish that had gone differently.”
“There is an appropriate way,” he said, “that you can have a safe space. Some basic ground rules without being Big Brother, and wanting to control the decisions that someone’s not ready to make.”
The forum concluded with commitments from some of the officials.
The City Council members announced the upcoming introduction of a Tenant Background Screening Ordinance, “hopefully”, in July, designed to prevent landlords from automatically disqualifying applicants based on criminal history.
On the state level, there is a renewed push for the Renter’s Bill of Rights and legislation to end the state preemption on rent control, which would allow municipalities to set their own rent caps.
