Emergency meeting held to address red-tag issue in Lansing

By Larry Wallace

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    LANSING, Michigan (WSYM) — For more than a month, Rosalyn Williams and her son have made a hotel their home after her unit at Autumn Ridge Apartments was red tagged. She first found out about her apartment issues when code compliance came for an inspection.

“They was like your furnace is not up to code, mold is here, they saw pipes leaking, you name it,” Williams said.

The city said it red tagged units at Autumn Ridge because of issues like unregistered rentals, plumbing, electrical and other maintenance projects being done without a permit.

But it’s not just a problem here at Autumn Ridge, Lansing currently has around 700 red tags placed, which prompted City Council to hold an emergency meeting Monday night that ended with ideas on how to address the issue.

“The public comments before they started, they got to hear from the people living in the apartments again,” Williams said.

Williams was one of the residents who spoke up. She has concerns about the city’s Code Compliance Office, and she also believes Mayor Andy Schor is not doing everything he can to fix the problem.

“Yesterday was my breaking point, because he’s failed me, and he’s failed my community, and he’s the CEO of the city and is responsible for this,” she said.

We went to Schor for comment.

“It’s up to us to be making sure landlords do what they’re supposed to be doing in terms of fixing the properties, we’re doing that. We haven’t been doing the best job at it, but we’re working on being better and fix the problem,” Schor said.

Schor said fixing it means making sure the 11 employees in the Code Enforcement Division are up to speed and also holding landlords accountable through legal action.

Recently, the city filed a $25,000 lawsuit against the Holmes Apartments, and Schor believes that sends a message.

“We’re going to take every measure we can to make sure the property is up to code, and that residents are living in properties that are up to code,” he said.

City Council is also getting involved. Councilman Ryan Kost said it’s time for the red-tag issue to be taken as a priority.

“We already had several people die from fires from unregistered properties,” Kost said. “So we need to be addressing this now, and not down the road.”

And until the issue is fully resolved, residents like Williams are unclear of their next move.

“Right now, I can afford to stay here, but I don’t know for how much longer,” she said.

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