By Khadja Erickson
Executive Director, Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center
For far too long, too many headlines, hot takes and talking points have spilled over our screens and airwaves about how the ever-increasing cost of living is making life harder for people.
From the cost of groceries to affordable healthcare and accessible childcare, many basic necessities are becoming out of reach for too many families. So when housing – the basic shelter and security we all need regardless of your income or zip code – starts to become tenuous for too many, we’ve got a major problem on our hands.
Over the last few months, that problem has unfortunately become front and center in Mid-Michigan with too many stories of low-income people and families being forced out of their homes with little notice. All the while, elected officials at every level of government seem poised to ignore the problems and the people perpetuating them until residents are on the verge of homelessness.
When I began as the executive director of the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center, I knew I would have my hands full. The housing crisis is one that is playing out in our neighborhoods and communities every single day. I’m thankful the Ingham County Commission saw the problem and gave us the funding we needed to get started. But just a few months in, I am reminded of how dire the situation is across our area – and it’s not just limited to Ingham County.
Just over the Lansing and Ingham County line is Kristana Mobile Home Park in Dewitt Township, where a handful of residents are being forced out of their homes with little notice, have had their water shutoff and are facing an uphill battle in getting justice. This small community of folks do not have the same access to money and lawyers like the developers they’re up against and they’re dealing with the stress of potentially becoming homeless while not being able to even turn on the water.
The situation at Kristana is one that I have been involved with from the beginning and I will tell you this much: the people in this community are strong, but they need support. I believe the local, county and state government has failed to stand up to them and have their backs as they’ve faced undue and unscrupulous pressure from mobile home developers with questionable track records.
I believe the water shutoffs, how the notices to vacate were given to residents, and the plan for redevelopment itself calls for investigations from Dewitt Township, Clinton County and the Michigan Attorney General’s office to get to the bottom of how the situation was allowed to unfold on everyday people who are just trying to stay in the trailers they’ve worked so hard to own and make into homes. There are seniors and families with small children who are facing homelessness through no fault of their own and our elected officials need to step up in every way they can and support them – that’s literally their job.
Back in the Lansing city limits, residents of Sycamore Townhomes are also facing an uncertain future, but are refusing to back down. Residents there have dealt with safety issues with their housing for far too long. It’s a situation that had gotten so bad that a federally-appointed receiver
had to come in and take over management of the homes from the landlord. That situation is beginning to go in a better direction thanks to the work of local activists, like the folks at The Rent is Too Damn High, but these situations are not isolated incidents, they’re systemic and scream for tenant rights reforms and more attention from our elected officials.
You, me and nearly everyone we know are much closer to becoming homeless than we are millionaires or billionaires. Housing issues can take folks who are managing to get by and plummet them into unimaginable circumstances.
The housing crisis we are facing as a community is not just one of a lack of supply of housing, which is most definitely a problem, it’s the injustices raining down on people who are simply trying to stay in the homes they already have.
Wealthy developers who are well-connected and greedy landlords are running roughshod over everyday people. Fines and written warnings from government officials may put pressure on them to do a bit better, but it can do little to ease the concerns and realities facing residents who deal with the possibility of forced moves, unsafe conditions and the added stress of housing uncertainty.
The Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center is doing everything in our power to help residents across the community to educate them on their rights, direct them to resources and advocate on their behalf, but our elected officials at every level of government need to do more to stand up for residents. A housing crisis like we are seeing does not just impact one family, it impacts entire communities.
Khadja Erickson is the Executive Director of the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center and the Housing Chair of the NAACP Lansing Chapter.
For more information about the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center, log on to trcmm.org.
