Lansing officials are discussing whether to impose a temporary halt on new rental licenses similar to the one currently in place in East Lansing.
Residents weighed in on the halt during a Lansing City Council meeting on Monday.
The council introduced the ordinance Monday, and scheduled an Oct. 11 public hearing for the issue.
The proposed policy would not allow for the conversion of single-family houses into rental properties for six months, so officials can study the ban's affect on the city's housing quality.
Similar to a law enacted by East Lansing in 2003, the moratorium would not affect homes that are already registered as rental units, or development of apartments and condominiums.
Lansing officials met with East Lansing leaders in August to get more information from East Lansing's policy and enforcement.
Annette Irwin, East Lansing's operations administrator for Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Conservation, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"This is one of the biggest issues facing the city of Lansing in terms of quality of life," said Lansing Councilmember At-Large Brian Jeffries. "We've tried certain things and it's just not working."
Jeffries, who also is an attorney for ASMSU Student Legal Services, said the cross-town meeting was insightful, but the city realized East Lansing's policy wasn't appropriate for Lansing, which he described as an "old-core" urban area.
He added that 500 homes in the city are red-tagged, or dubbed unsafe and unoccupied.
Lansing's housing stock is 57 percent owner-occupied, which is below the national average of 70 percent, said Jeffries.
Residents who attended Monday's council meeting said the halt on licenses is an attempt to stop the growing trend in crime and depreciating property values that come with rentals in their neighborhoods.
Nancy Parsons, president of the East Side Neighborhood Organization, said she has researched the blighted conditions of the city, and the moratorium is a way to look for solutions.
"It's sad because we do have some responsible tenants out there, but unfortunately the negative outweighs the positive," Parsons said.
But former Lansing Community College Trustee Todd Heywood said he feels the language of the ordinance is "hauntingly similar" to the one East Lansing approved.
"It's not fair to target renters and say they aren't community-minded," said Heywood, a Lansing home-owner. "There has to be a better answer than dividing and conquering and that's what I see happening."
