Democratic Michigan lawmakers are again calling for a renters’ “bill of rights.”
Protections would include 90-day notice for rent increases and relocation assistance for tenants who need to move because their homes aren’t up to code.
State Representative Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) plans to re-introduce the legislation next week.
Dievendorf said the state needs to invest long-term money and resources into addressing “root causes of homelessness.”
“Based on what we know of housing and this crisis and homelessness, if we truly decided to make it a priority, we could get to the bottom of this and solve this problem,” they said after a press conference in Lansing Wednesday.
This will be the second time Dievendorf has introduced the package. The bills failed to advance last legislative term, despite Democrats controlling the legislature at the time.
Now, with Republicans in charge, Dievendorf doesn’t have much hope of the bills passing this time either. Critics of the package argue placing more burdens on landlords would lead to them charging higher rent.
During Wednesday’s press conference, advocates pressed for a holistic approach to addressing housing needs and homelessness. That includes spending more money on building affordable housing, new zoning laws to make it easier to build, and support services to get people off the street.
Lansing resident Smokey Cushman said they’ve dealt firsthand with houselessness and living in encampments. They said it costs the state more to deal with the long-term effects of homelessness than it would to keep people off the street to begin with.
Cushman said the state needs “real solutions” rather than treating people like “trash.”
“Even if someone views these people as trash, trash still accumulates. It still needs somewhere to go, or you’re going to see it show up in a park, where you don’t want to see it,” they said.
Some proposals, including zoning legislation, have received bipartisan support. State Representative Joseph Aragona (R-Clinton Twp) is a cosponsor on that package and said he’s been talking with leadership and the governor to build support as well.
Beyond more uniform zoning policies, Aragona said the state could benefit from tax breaks and other programs.
“Zoning is only a portion of it," he said. “Will it help? Yeah. Is it the silver bullet? No.”
He argued any state-funding approach needs to be measured.
