The human factor: Lansing struggles with aging apartments

Lansing code compliance officials are struggling with keeping residents in three aging apartment complexes that may not meet code requirements or dumping them on the streets.

The issue has been in the headlines as well as under the radar as city officials continue to fight to bring the buildings up to code. “It is a complicated issue. We do not have enough quality and affordable housing,” said Brian McGrain, the city’s economic development and planning director.

“It is a national problem, and it is playing out in Lansing in its own way. We have to reach a threshold to make people homeless. No one wants to make someone homeless. How do we move housing into a better state?”

It’s a quandary his team of 14 code compliance and premises officers struggle with every day. 

The most immediate issue involves Marvin Gardens, which comprises two buildings on the southside. It has been under review by code officials for months. Yet when McGrain and other staff toured the facility with management just after Christmas, they still saw problems.

“We found things that need to be done. We are prepared to red tag that property if things aren’t dealt with quickly,” McGrain said. “While there, management stocked the fire extinguishers, but the windows we have identified as an issue have not been replaced.”

McGrain said he will join other code officials to review the property again this week, and the threat of red tags is imminent, he said. Joining him as he reviews the property will be the city’s housing ombudsman, Joe MacDonald. 

“We need to be able to offer resources if people are displaced,” McGrain said. The entire complex remains pink-tagged. That means the apartments have not yet been issued rental certificates. Rental certificates assure renters that the property they are renting has been inspected.

Meanwhile, a resource list of apartments with affordable rents — including Marvin Gardens — was circulated by an Ingham County Health Department official and raised the hackles of some activists. 

In a letter to the Ingham County commissioners, Rejuvenating South Lansing representative Jason Wilkes chastised the department. He shared the letter in the group’s email list Monday night. 

“All one would have to do is pay attention to the news about the horrible conditions that residents have complained about to this management group time and time again with no results!” he wrote. He said many of the property owners are the “same bad actors” who “prey on the less fortunate and subject them to homes that none of us would live in.”

“I have a real hard time understanding why supporting these slum lords, at best, is something that the Ingham County Health Dept. would do,” Wilkes wrote.  

Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail said the information was provided to partner agencies. It is up to those agencies “to vet the properties.” 

“I would rather share options with our partners than not,” she said. “Checking the apartments out is up to our partner agencies. The Ingham County Health Department does not inspect rental properties.”

Wilkes said he was disappointed with Vail’s response. 

“I think they need to look at the information they are sharing with their partners,” he said. “I think they need to revisit that policy or procedure and make sure that they are not sharing information that can lead to harm.”

McGrain and his team faced evicting residents of seven or eight units at the southside’s Everett Apartments just before Christmas. The first floor has substantial damage from flooding and plumbing concerns. The owners have not done the work to fix that damage, McGrain noted. As a result, the city has ordered them to submit a written plan on how and when they will be completing the repairs. The remainder of the buildings has tags on their doors that read “Final Notice to Landlord Lack of Valid Certificate of Compliance.”

While the first-floor apartments remain red-tagged from the flooding and plumbing issues, the remaining units in that building were also red-tagged. 

“Management was cooperative in rehousing some of the tenants,” said McGrain. “Some tenants wanted to move to another unit, some just wanted to leave.” 

The city remains in a court battle with the owners of Rivershell Apartments on Bayview Drive in south Lansing since 2021. 

“The courts are very deliberate,” he said. 

The battle has been ongoing since November 2021, after management failed to address numerous code violations by an October 2021 deadline. Among the concerns at the time: The balcony railings and floorboards were found to be rotted out at every unit in the complex, posing a “real safety concern” for tenants who might step outside, according to city officials. Inspection reports also pointed to sagging roofs that were desperately in need of replacement, loose toilets, missing smoke detectors, busted gutters and other issues. Windows are broken. Trash and broken appliances were scattered across the complex last month. Some walls were graffitied. 

McGrain said the city continues to have grave concerns about the safety of the balconies on the property. 

Part of the issue facing the city is the sheer number of rental units: about 28,000 rental units — about half the city’s housing stock. 

“We’ve tried to make changes to focus on those that need attention,” McGrain said. “It’s older housing stock. It requires reinvestment. These things require constant attention and a lot of money.”

But it is difficult “nexus,” McGrain said. 

“We have some landlords out there that can do a better job,” he said. “We need help to keep their feet to the fire. But we have to do this without pushing housing prices up and without making people homeless.”