LANSING, Mich. — In covering this red-tag issue, we’ve met residents like Mark Larose, Rosalyn Williams and Bryan Douglas, who have been impacted by the problem first hand.
“I mean, we were paying rent. You would think they would pay to keep the place in working order,” Larose said.
Those concerns led to me reaching out to the property managers and owners of these red tagged apartments.
But we didn’t stop there, and through numerous phone calls and interviews, we found out Lansing currently has 686 red-tagged units and 327 pink-tagged locations. Also, the city is looking to hire a new code compliance manager, and the position has been open for a little over a month.
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“We in Lansing are in the midst of a housing crisis,” said state Rep. Emily Dievendorf, who represents part of the city of Lansing.
We talked Divendorf to see what’s being done at the state level to solve the problem. She told us about this Renters Bill of Rights package, which is comprised of nearly 30 bills.
“We have a list of protection for renters that include if someone is evicted because of the quality of their housing living conditions, then the landlord will have to be responsible for moving them to a safer location,” she said.
Dieverndorf is hoping to see some of the bills in the package make their way through the Michigan House in the next month or so. Until then, she wants residents to know that there’s hope.
“Residents in Lansing, we have hope coming, we have things coming, and we have a Democratic caucus that is passionate about fixing these housing issues,” she said.
