East Lansing HRC Moves Forward With Housing Investigation Despite Loss of Investigatory Powers
The East Lansing Human Rights Commission, or HRC, is moving forward with a housing investigation, despite recently being stripped of investigatory powers by the City Council.
In a complaint filed with the HRC, a resident living in the Deerpath Apartments claims they are being discriminated against by the apartment complex due to a disability and could be evicted. The complaint was filed against Deerpath Apartments in May, a month before the city rolled back the commission’s authority.
For over 60 years, East Lansing’s Human Rights Ordinance granted the HRC the power to investigate complaints to find potential violations. This changed in June, when the City Council voted to amend the ordinance. Because this housing complaint was filed before the ordinance was amended, the commission maintains it has the power to investigate this specific complaint.
“We were told that anything that had been filed prior to the changes of the ordinance, we’re able to use our old, former procedures on,” said HRC Chair Karen Hoene.
At the HRC’s Monday meeting, commissioners primarily discussed ways to support the person alleging discrimination on the basis of disability, such as providing resources for legal representation to fight the eviction.
Deerpath Apartments did not respond to a request for comment from East Lansing Info.
While the HRC plans to move forward with this investigation, members of the body raised questions about what it can do if residents come to the body with similar complaints in the future.
The previous ordinance allowed the commission to investigate any filed complaint using multiple avenues. Under the city’s current ordinance, however, the body no longer holds investigative authority; instead, its role is limited to accepting complaints and holding hearings. Further, the new rules exempt city officials and entities from review, requiring that those complaints be referred to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.
The ordinance was rewritten shortly after the HRC concluded a controversial investigation that found the East Lansing Police Department violated two young Black men’s civil rights after an officer pepper-sprayed them and the department issued a misleading press release that identified the men. Charges against both men were eventually dropped and they are now suing the city. After concluding its investigation, the HRC ordered the city to pay $50,000 in damages, including reputational harm.
The investigation was unusual because the HRC was investigating a city department and commissioners believed they could order the city to pay the men.
The city did not pay and shortly after, the City Council stripped the commission’s investigatory powers and ability to review complaints against city entities or employees. City attorneys defended the move as a legal necessity, arguing that a review revealed that the longstanding ordinance conflicted with the city charter, as well as state and federal law, because it wrongly delegated judicial power to an appointed body, power the City Council itself does not possess.
Commissioners contended that the HRC’s powers were stripped as retaliation for investigating the police department after city attorneys urged them not to.
At the HRC’s Monday meeting, the commission explored the possibility of amending the city code to create a new ordinance that would empower the HRC to periodically review the enforcement of ordinances through an equity lens.
Hoene introduced the idea at Monday’s meeting, noting it was partially inspired by two ordinances passed this year: one banning loitering in parking lots and a decision to repeal a section of the city’s pretextual stops ordinance to allow ELPD officers to ticket drivers with loud cars.
She said the reduced authority for the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission and the removal of the HRC’s investigative powers have severely limited both groups, making a new review mechanism crucial.
Human Rights Commissioners Jonathan Forman and Matthew Boughton voiced their support for the idea, expressing specific interest in tracking how those two new ordinances are being enforced. Local advocates have raised concerns that these ordinances will be used by police to target racial minorities and unhoused individuals.
“I think there should be checks and balances,” Hoene said.