LANSING, Mich. — The Lansing Housing Commission spent millions of dollars to renovate Waverly Place Apartments, but some residents said those renovations weren’t done properly.
“We just recently underwent the RAD conversion, but we call it the RAD disaster,” said resident Lisa Sadler.
RAD is the Rental Assistance Demonstration, and some residents at Waverly Place Apartments said their experience with it hasn’t been too good.
“We have plumbing issues, we have electrical issues,” Sadler said. “The siding is coming off this newly-remodeled RAD townhome.”
The Lansing Housing Commission started the RAD process in March 2020 by spending $13.8 Million to renovate the 140 units at Waverly Place Apartments. Work included new front porches, doors and more.
“All of the interior, new flooring, new cabinets, new appliances, all new plumbing fixtures and new dry wall repair,” said Doug Bishop with Oakwood Construction.
We took the residents concerns to the Lansing Housing Commission’s Executive Director Doug Fleming, who said he knew nothing about some of the complaints. He also said residents should understand that minor issues are common after a large renovation project.
“Any time you have a construction deal, you’re always going to have these things called punch line items , you know things are going to come loose, they’re going to be adjusted,” Fleming said. “We put in 140 new refrigerators, some may not be working properly, but soon as we hear these complaints, we fix them.”
But some residents say, they have complained for years.
“My handicapped daughter, she can’t walk, she can’t climb, she can’t do any of that,” said resident Nicolette Miller. “They were supposed put me up a ramp up, they said they had it in their garage, and they said they would put it up on a nice day. Its been two years, we’ve had several nice days, but my ramp still not up.”
Aside form Waverly, the Lansing Housing Commission hopes to renovate three other apartment complexes in the city by the end of 2023. We’re told the renovation of all four properties is going to cost around $50 million, and the renovations were made possible with the help of tax credits. But residents at Waverly say before moving on to other renovations, the Lansing Housing Commission should fix their issues first.
“Fix the issues because we have to live here,” Sadler said.
