People with Disabilities File Most Housing Discrimination Complaints in East Lansing, Analysis Shows
Affordability is an issue and people with mental, physical and emotional disabilities are most likely to face housing discrimination, according to a roughly 15-minute presentation on Fair Housing given to City Council during a discussion-only meeting Tuesday (Oct. 10).
The presentation, given by Community and Economic Development Specialist Matt Apostle, was based on an analysis the city did in partnership with McKenna Associates. In addition to reviewing demographic information, affordability and housing complaints, the analysis incorporated two focus groups and one open house on housing that allowed for public engagement last fall.
The goal of the analysis was to identify impediments to the affordability, accessibility and fair housing choice in East Lansing. The report was mandatory because of funding the city receives through Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and was last updated in 2015.
“This updated analysis of impediments to fair housing choice report will serve as one of the many guiding documents for staff in housing and equity-related decision making for years to come,” Apostle said.
Discrimination complaints have been found but outcomes are unknown.
Between June 1, 2015 and June 15, 2022, the Fair Housing Center (FHC) received 41 housing discrimination complaints about East Lansing properties. Of these complaints, 66% were based on physical, mental or emotional disabilities, Apostle said.
Additionally, the report said that while there does not appear to be impediments to fair housing for senior residents, housing in East Lansing is much less ability diverse than the Greater Lansing area.
Apostle said the FHC conducted 17 complaint-based tests and eight survey-based tests for housing discrimination. Nine out of 17 complaint-based tests and five out of eight survey-based tests showed evidence that there was housing discrimination, Apostle said.
Later in the presentation, Apostle shared that these tests showed there is some race-based housing discrimination in the city. However, he said, more testing would need to be done to determine just how prevalent it is.
Following the presentation, Councilmember George Brookover asked about the outcomes for instances where discrimination was found. Apostle responded by saying the city received the information on complaints from the FHC anonymously and there is no information on outcomes.
Brookover said there is a process in East Lansing where discrimination complaints can be followed up on through the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and he would like to know the outcomes for the scenarios where discrimination was found. The process he was referring to was showcased at the Monday (Oct. 9) HRC meeting when DTN Management was found to have violated a tenant’s rights.
Brookover asked Apostle to see if he can find out the outcomes for cases of discrimination.
“I don’t think anonymity is an issue,” Brookover said. “The question is, was there a complaint under federal, state or local law, and did somebody pursue the complaint, and was there an outcome administratively or legally from the complaint?”
Apostle said he had reached out to the FHC already to ask more questions about the testing data and he can ask about outcomes as well.
The report comes with five recommendations for the city.
Based on information found in the report, McKenna Associates made five recommendations for the city. The recommendations are:
- Partner with an outside agency to engage in more comprehensive fair housing testing.
- Clarify and make accessible on the ity’s website all medical and child caregiver exceptions within the existing residential rental licensing system.
- Expand zoning for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) outside of the neo-traditional development district.
- Utilize a portion of CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] funds toward a security deposit assistance program.
- Work towardsbuilding a consortium with neighboring participating jurisdictions in order to qualify for an annual allocation of HOME funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Aside from Councilmember Noel Garcia expressing surprise that there is not an existing security deposit assistance program in the city (he believed there was one), there was no discussion about the recommendations.
Council asked that potential avenues to affordable housing be investigated.
Councilmember Dana Watson asked Apostle about a table in the report that showed the number of publicly supported housing units in the city. The table showed there are more than 200 units each supported by project-based section 8 housing and housing choice vouchers. Project-based Section 8 housing is built to be affordable, like Deerpath Apartments on Haslett Road east of Hagadorn Road, and housing choice vouchers help low-income renters cover part of their housing costs.
Watson said she wondered what the breakdown of publicly supported housing in Lansing and other surrounding areas would look like.
“Sometimes, you find problems in areas where poverty is concentrated,” Watson said. “It’s like how do we do our part and do our job to attract people who have the housing choice vouchers?”
Watson went on to say many people want to move to East Lansing because they like the school district or other aspects of the city, but affordability is a challenge.
However, there are two other forms of publicly supported housing on the table Watson referred to, public housing and other HUD multi-family, that had zero units in the city.
Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg asked Apostle to look into what those types of housing are.
“If you could shoot me that info when you get it, just out of curiosity,” Gregg said. “We are currently talking a lot about low-income housing and moderate income housing and where it fits in our community, so I’m fairly interested in all aspects of this topic.”