An East Lansing-commissioned survey distributed this month to landlords, student government and city officials aims to uncover any discrimination in rental properties.
But some student leaders say choosing to do a fair-housing survey in the summer will not paint the most accurate picture of what student life is like in East Lansing.
“I think having this survey done in the summer wasn’t the best idea, in terms of getting some strong student input,” ASMSU Student Assembly Chairperson Matt Weingarden said. “It’s very impractical. Right off the bat, you’re missing 60 to 70 percent of your base population.”
The first fair-housing study since 1980, the surveys were mailed to area groups July 17. About 35 surveys went to student organizations leaders, 30 to housing industry leaders and landlords, and 100 to city officials, community groups and local churches.
Those people also are invited to attend meetings at the Hannah Community Center today to talk about their answers to the survey. Those meetings will focus on the abundance of discrimination when it comes to buying or renting a house or apartment in East Lansing.
The Fair Housing Center of Greater Grand Rapids, which is not affiliated with the city of Grand Rapids, sent the surveys as part of a city effort to raise awareness that residents have legal recourse to discrimination and to provide up-to-date statistics for discrimination to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.Any information collected will help educate people about the issues of discrimination in buying or renting homes, Fair Housing Center Executive Director Nancy Haynes said.
A report will be issued to the city in the spring.
If problems with discrimination are found in East Lansing, the Fair Housing Center could begin to use an undercover sting operation to target problem landlords, city officials said.
For example, the Fair Housing Center would send two families of varying races to apply for the same apartment to see if one family is treated differently.
But a project like that wouldn’t happen until late next year - even a problem is found with East Lansing housing, officials said.
And even then, some say problems might be missed because of the timing of the survey.
New Community co-op resident Joe Irvin , who serves as vice president of membership for the Student Housing Cooperative, said a better time for the survey would have been when students return. That way, city officials will have an accurate picture of any problems.
“Definitely during the school year you have more people,” the English senior said. “During the fall we had 190 members and now we have 130.”
Stephanie Gingerich, a community development analyst for East Lansing, said the city had to conduct the survey in the summer to get an early start on the fair-housing study.
Gingerich said while there are three meetings scheduled to evaluate the survey, there will probably more meetings in the fall when students return.
“The (Fair Housing Center) wanted to specifically deal with or hear from students, but it was hard to target the students,” Gingerich said. “But since we didn’t have mailing addresses we had to e-mail them.”
And despite the timing of the survey, East Lansing landlord Joan Bulmer, who operates 12 co-ops in the city, said the effort will result in positive changes.
“I think conferences and meetings are a wonderful idea,” Bulmer said. “We don’t have a problem, but it’s nice to know legally what we can do.”
Meanwhile, although anyone facing discrimination can immediately file a complaint with the city, East Lansing’s newest battle against discrimination won’t start for a year.
But that’s not soon enough for an active campaign, said ASMSU’s Weingarden, who is a member of the city’s Human Relations Commission, which promotes human rights. The city needs to constantly be advancing these issues, he said.
“It’s one thing to say anyone who wants to live here can live here and another to say anyone who wants to live here is welcome here,” said Weingarden.
Kristofer Karol can be reached at karolkri@msu.edu.
