ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Soaring rent in southeast Michigan has been a growing problem, one made worse by the pandemic and recent inflation.
One of the places it’s illustrated clearly is Ann Arbor; we spent just minutes in a grocery store parking lot and met several people willing to voice their frustrations.
“$1,104 for a studio. So it’s just one giant room that I share with someone,” said U-M sophomore Grace Shapiro.
She lives not far from the 48104 zip code we were standing in; where recent HUD data shows some of the highest fair market rents in Ann Arbor.
“I pay $1,400,” said sophomore Maggie Lomasney, speaking about her room in a shared 4-bedroom apartment. She admits that without her parents' help, she wouldn’t be living there.
“The rent on the current unit that I’m living in, if I were to renew, it would go up $150, which I think is a little bit ridiculous,” she said.
The problem with rising rents has prompted renewed conversations about renters' rights at both the local and state level.
State Senator Jeff Irwin, a Democrat representing Washtenaw County including Ann Arbor, helped introduce legislation this session to remove Michigan’s 1988 ban on rent control, or rent stabilization policies.
Rent control refers to government caps on how much a landlord can charge for rent and lease renewal. Generally speaking, rent control is handled at a municipal level.
“There was a significant investment in affordable rental housing by the federal government in the 1960s and 1970s and that really tapered off,” said Housing attorney for the Michigan Poverty Law Program, Jim Schaasfma.
He said rent stabilization can play out in several ways.
“It could be a limit on the increase in rents for example a percentage increase. That increase could be tied to the rate of inflation,” he said.
A 2019 study by the Urban Institute found just 182 municipalities in the country have rent control policies in place; and they’re all in New York, New Jersey, California, Maryland, or Washington D.C. Schaasfma said one of the reasons rent control has not been present in most of the midwest, is that rent prices here are comparably lower.
Dozens of states, including Michigan, currently have laws in place forbidding local governments from enacting rent control measures.
Josephine, a senior at U of M, came here from out of state. She’s lived in Nevada and California previously, and said affordable housing was one of the things that drew her to college in the midwest.
But now, “It’s probably one of my top stresses in terms of cost,” she said.
She’s choosing to not renew her lease next year because her rent is going up more than $100 per month. Last year, it went up by $30 per month.
“That’s kind of out of my budget,” she said.
At the local level, renter's rights advocates in the City of Ann Arbor won a victory this fall, when the city council passed a new ordinance that gives renters the legal right to renew their lease unless a landlord has a legitimate legal reason to evict them. The ordinance requires landlords to make a “good faith” renewal offer to tenants no later than 180 days before their current lease ends.
When it comes to rent control - and whether or not it’s a possible solution to the rising rent problem, Schaasfma believes it should be an option. He’s in support of eliminating the 1980s ban.
However, rent control alone can’t fix the problem, he said.
It’s one rooted in supply.
“There is a significant lack of adequate supply or availability or rental housing units. And so I think when you combine that with inflationary pressure what we’re seeing are historically high rents in Michigan,” he said.
There’s also the issue of rent prices far out coming wages, he said, noting there are many areas in metro Detroit where you’d need to make almost $40 hourly to afford a 2-bedroom at a fair market rate.
Advocates for rent control suggest it can increase stability by lowering tenant turnover, which in turn benefits neighborhoods. Opponents point to supply problems rent control can create, landlords make less of a profit, and that can lead to a lag in maintenance and upkeep.
Schaasfma said to really address the problem, Michigan needs to seriously invest in more affordable housing development.
He said the state’s appropriation of around $200 million in federal covid dollars to do just that is a significant step.
“But as a matter of state budget policy there has not been money appropriated for housing development. For rental housing development,” he said.
He goes on to say “I think that reflects the value assigned to this issue.”
Irwin’s measure to repeal the 1988 ban remains in committee.
It’s unclear if the bill will be reintroduced next session.
Schaasfma hopes the root issue of the housing crisis, which he maintains is supply, remains front of mind.
“This doesn’t need to be a partisan issue,” he said.
