LANSING, Mich — Not comfortable getting on camera, one resident described some of the issues she says are inside of her unit at Sycamore townhomes.
“My flooring needs to be replaced,” she said. “It still has not been replaced. Carpet, plumbing issues, everything.”
She said the list goes on and on. We've told you before how these complains have echoed so loud, that the city pink tagged all 339 units and red tagged nearly 150 of them, which led to a federal judge granting receivership over the property in September.
“I still have issues inside the units,” that resident said.
The resident told us while she's still waiting for issues inside her unit to be resolved, she has noticed a change since the receivership, 24 hour security. But the resident said the lights outside of the complex still don't work.
“Those lights should have been addressed immediately,” said councilman Ryan Kost.
Kost said he and other council members have been pushing for solutions, but have had no luck with the new management.
We reached out to that management company for comment and they refused to speak to us.
The city told us since the receivership agreement started, no units have been brought back into compliance.
Kost said that doesn't surprise him because the agreement does not have a deadline.
“We have dropped the ball and we gotta pick that ball back up and if that means going back to court and asking for a hard deadline, I would urge the city attorney office to do so,” he said.
Below is a statement from the city of Lansing :
“Lansing residents deserve to live in safe, clean, appropriate housing. This Administration has committed to taking all steps in our power, and that’s exactly why we took the owners of this complex to federal court, won the motion, and got the complex placed into receivership. While everyone wants all the problems to be fixed ASAP, this large complex has been neglected and facing challenges for years and no reasonable person expected things to be perfect overnight. Many challenges have already been corrected at the demand of the city, including 24 hour security which continues to be onsite and ongoing fixes of public lighting. The receiver is working with the Court and all applicable City departments to get the funding to continue to move things in the right direction, with minimal negative impact on the residents of the complex. The City has had many personnel on site from Code Compliance, Building Safety, Human Relations and Community Services, City Attorney, and other departments, and spent many days there with the court appointed receiver. The Mayor has also been onsite, and spoke to residents of the complex as well. The City Attorney’s Office continues to monitor the situation and progress in relation to the court order. The City of Lansing has dedicated significant resources to this situation and will continue to work to help the folks that live at Sycamore.”
Scott Bean
Director of Communication
City of Lansing
