Friday, March 29, 2024

Some security

City must continue protecting renters from poor housing

The city of East Lansing should continue supporting students in off-campus housing conflicts.

The city recently supported five residents of 442 Grove St. after they broke their lease with their landlord. The city is helping the tenants leave their house in the historic district without consequences from their landlord, who was renting out the house without a rental license.

The city should be commended for siding with the tenants and taking an active approach to improving rental housing in student areas. It should continue to stand behind all tenants in the city and attempt to prevent landlords from taking advantage of them.

Residents should be able to go to the city government with serious housing concerns, and the city should continue to hear them out. It should be praised for its support of these tenants.

The city also should continue to put pressure on landlords to improve their houses. The poor quality of rental housing stock in the city is not a new issue and city officials should continue addressing it. In this case, the five tenants said that when they first looked at the house, it was strewn with trash, fire detectors were not working and it was missing many light bulbs.

Some of the mess was cleaned up before the five residents moved in, but they claim the building is still in shambles and fails many city codes. While it is questionable why the tenants moved in under these conditions, quality housing is scarce in the city.

Still, if the residents had known that the house was unlicensed, they probably would not have moved in. The landlord’s rental license originally expired in November 1999, but he received a provisional license to rent with minor violations, which expired in August.

It should not be the responsibility of the residents to find out if their house has any violations. The system should be modified so that tenants know whether their house is licensed or has faced violations before they sign the lease. The city should ensure all properties are thoroughly examined for violations, and that tenants are made aware of any safety concerns before they move in.

The city is taking steps to become tougher with inspections, and will start sending letters to landlords warning them that their property must comply with city codes before their licenses can be renewed. It should continue to implement programs like these, which will help take care of potential problems before more residents are thrown into the same situation as the tenants of 442 Grove St.

A house should not have to catch fire for East Lansing to deal with the problem of unsafe housing. The demand for housing in the city allows landlords to keep rent costly - the landlords should at least be forced to keep these houses safe.

East Lansing needs to repair its housing enforcement and keep fighting for renters, so that it can provide quality, safe, off-campus housing.

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