- The Lansing Housing Commission is asking City Council to approve Payment in Lieu of Taxes for two affordable housing apartments.
- The apartments, which combined will bring more than 100 affordable units to the neighborhood, are on East Kalamazoo and South Grand.
- The projects are getting support and opposition from neighbors. Watch video to find out why.
Tucked away behind downtown Lansing, Cherry Hill may soon welcome some new neighbors.
“We have two projects, in front of you,” Lansing Housing Commission Executive Director Doug Flemming said to city council on Sept.9.
LHC is asking city council to approve Payment in Lieu of Taxes for those two projects.
The first project is River-view 220, a $23 million apartment complex on East Kalamazoo with 56 affordable units and 7 market rate units.
The other project, just walking distance away in South Grand, is the Grand vista place, a $20 million complex that's expected to have 55 affordable units.
The ask for a 5% 40 year PILOT on each project, comes after the city previously approved 10 percent PILOTS on both locations.
“Construction costs and things of that nature have risen, which is why they say they asked for a 5%,” said councilman Adam Hussain.
The ask is prompting mixed feelings from residents. There are those who support it like David Ellis.
“I support this because its 111 units not just affordable housing, but rent stabilized housing and this is really what we need to have affordable housing,” Ellis said.
Then, there are those like Jody Washington, a community activist, who says LHC doesn't deserve another PILOT, given what she calls poor conditions of their other Lansing properties.
“These places were full of black mold,” she said.
Washington went on to say she doesn't support the projects because of the location, which is already filled with resources for those who are unhoused.
“They deserve to live in nice areas too, not in warehouses of poverty, we need to spread it,” Washington said.
“I don't see that as a concern at all,” Ellis said. “If its a lot of unhoused people, that’s where you're going to put the resources for them.”
If the Pilots are approved, LHC projects the city would gain more than 1 million dollars in tax revenue over the next 20 years.
