“I couldn't in good conscious vote in giving them another break, when they couldn't give their own people another break,” said Lansing City Councilman Ryan Kost.
At the last council meeting on September 30th, City Council unanimously voted against 5% payment in lieu of taxes for two Lansing Housing Commission's Affordable Housing complexes. Together, both complexes are expected to bring more than 100 affordable units to the Cherry Hill neighborhood.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Lansing Housing Commission requests PILOTS for Cherry Hill projects
“We keep building properties here in Lansing, but we're not taking care of the properties we already have, specifically LHC,” Kost said.
Council said LHC can still utilize the 10% pilots that were previously approved. Kost said he didn't support the new PILOTS because of the conditions of other LHC properties. One of them, the Capital City Apartments on south Washington avenue.
“There are issues on the inside, mold, electrical,” Kost said.
According to online city records, Capital City has a couple open violations, which include at least 3 unites being "tagged unsafe”.
We went to Mayor Andy schor, who said Lansing needs to play a part in solving the housing crisis. He provided the statement below:
"Lansing needs to play our part in helping to solve the national housing crisis. Both the state of Michigan and the federal government agree that more housing needs to be built. All mid-Michigan communities need to do more to provide affordable housing, and Lansing will continue to do its part to increase housing options for those who want to live here. All communities in our region must also help those on the streets or without housing to have affordable options. Our partners at MSHDA have been working on plans to increase housing options across Michigan, and provided an allocation for this LHC project downtown. I am disappointed that this affordable housing proposal did not pass the city council, and I will continue to work with the LHC, MSHDA, the Ingham County Land Bank, and other nonprofit partners to offer housing options in Lansing."
