Southfield group organizes rally for lower rent, affordable housing

SOUTHFIELD — Several action groups descended on Southfield to protest rental laws and housing costs recently.

The We the People Action Fund, All RASE and Life Matter, and Allies Becoming Co-Conspirators for Justice were joined by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and state Rep. Natalie Price outside Southfield City Hall Oct. 7 for a rally in support of renter rights.

Price said that We the People invited her to the protest because she sponsors House Bill 5756, which grants renters the right to renew and ensures that no landlord can evict or refuse to renew a tenant’s lease without good cause.

“It’s time to focus on making sure that renters have some of the same protections and safeguards in place as homeowners, so my bill, Right to Renew, would make it so that landlords cannot deny a renter that right to renew their lease without real good cause that is specifically defined. It also prevents the landlords from being able to raise the rates of the rents and their calculations, what’s beyond market value, but making sure that we are giving the renters an important voice in the process as well.”

Before addressing the City Council during the public comment portion of the Oct. 7 meeting, Southfield renters Vonetta Sanders and Sabrina Colvin shared their stories.

“I am here to demand that immediate action be taken for renters’ rights. Right now, we are being priced out and pushed out of our communities. I lived in Southfield as a renter for eight years. A new property manager came in, and they increased their rent over 30% in one year,” Sanders said.

“I was complaining about my maintenance. I had my ceiling collapse due to water leaking in the ceiling, and I was given an eviction notice instead of a maintenance person because I withheld my rent until they brought over someone to do the work while I was going through the process of proving that I was withholding my rent because they hadn’t done the maintenance work.”

Sanders added that a court decided that she had enough proof to put her rent into escrow, but the management company was still “charging me all kind of junk fees, double pricing for the water bill, double pricing for the attorney fees, late fees, and they were just stacking up and piling up, and I had no other assistance.”

She said her rent went from $1,100 in 2016 to almost $2,000 in 2024.

Colvin expressed similar frustrations.

“I’ve been in my apartment for 14 years, and every year, they go up on the rent. One year, they went up on the rent by almost $400. I am a senior citizen. I have a fixed income. … The food has gone up, the utilities has gone up, and every year y’all go up on the rent. It’s unreal.”

However, Southfield Mayor Ken Siver said that the state does not allow the city to enact rent control.

“The state of Michigan does not allow local communities to do rent controls. So, I know these folks have been speaking to state legislators. I’m surmising from statements they’ve made that they’re frustrated because nothing’s happened at the state level. Now, there are two other things that I understand they want. They’d like an ordinance that would prohibit a landlord from evicting somebody who complained about a building condition. I think we can do that. I just don’t know how you enforce it, because you could certainly get into a ‘he said-she said’ situation, and when you violate an ordinance, it’s a criminal situation. So that’s one of the things.”

He said he empathizes with the renters and explained that the city is investigating ways to prohibit landlords from evicting a person for complaining about conditions.

“The other thing is, they wanted an ordinance about what they’ve termed to me ‘junk fees,’ and again, I don’t know that that’s something the city can regulate.”

He added that this issue isn’t central to the city of Southfield.

“The bottom line here is that this is not just a Southfield problem. There’s a housing shortage nationwide. It’s a campaign issue, and I do want to say in Southfield, we have on the drawing board, as well as under construction, hundreds of apartments, and everything is going very slowly because of two factors: interest rates and the cost of building materials.”

Siver added that since price increases of key building materials such as steel, aluminum and lumber, the conversion projects of the 40 units at McKinley School and the 60 units of subsidized senior housing conversion of the former John Gray School have been “creeping along.”

“I think one of the things that everyone needs to realize is that just like the cost of groceries and gas have gone up, the cost of putting a new roof on or putting a new furnace in or doing any maintenance for a home or apartment complex has also gone up. The cost of labor has gone up,” Erika Farley, executive director of the Rental Property Owners Association, said.

She said that the cost of maintaining properties has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacts the cost of renting.

“There isn’t a major margin of profit here. The majority of property owners earn about 3 cents on the dollar for every rent dollar that is paid, so when the cost of maintaining the property, labor, all these things that I mentioned go up, then that’s going to affect the price of rent for everybody.”

Farley added that regarding landlord and tenant legislation, it’s like “taking a hammer to something that needs a scalpel.” She explained that the majority of the RPOA members are small-business owners ranging from inherited properties to retirees who own a few properties rather than hundreds. Farley emphasized that property owners want to keep tenants in properties.

“We’re not talking about people with really large portfolios, so we want to make sure that there is fairness on both sides so that the residents are protected and the property owners are protected. Because if we make it too hard for people to be property owners, then who is going to own and buy the properties so that people can be in the properties? I talk about housing being a circle. If there’s a break in that circle, then it’s not working.”

Rana Abro is the area manager for McDonnell Tower, River Park Place, and Woodridge Apartments, which are owned by the Southfield Non-Profit Housing Corp. and managed by Lockwood Communities in Southfield. The SNHC was founded in 1973 with the mission of “providing comfortable spaces for everyone in our city.”

Lockwood Communities offers “a variety of living options to fit any budget or lifestyle, from affordable and income-based apartments to market rate townhomes” in 30 apartment communities across Michigan and Ohio. McDonell Tower and Woodridge offer affordable apartments for ages 62 and older. River Park Place offers affordable apartment and townhouse options for families or individuals.

“Price is based on a market survey. So, every year or two, when we have an audit or inspection, we send out this survey. So we do have to call other properties around the area. And we ask questions regarding the monthly rents. What’s included in the rents, utilities, additional fees? So the problem with that is just nowadays, once every year when the cost of living goes up, everything’s going to go up, though.”

Abro explained that for those reasons, rent may increase by 3%-5%. She added that the rent increases are approved by either the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and/or the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and residents are notified if their rent is being increased annually.

For more information on House Bill 5756, visit legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2024-HB-5756.