LANSING, Mich. — Rosalyn Williams was forced to book a hotel room after her unit at Autumn Ridge Townhomes and Apartments was red tagged. After living in a hotel for six weeks, she's out of thousands of dollars.
“I don’t wish this on my worst enemy. It has really been horrible because I have never dealt with anything like this,” she said.
We’ve done a few stories on Autumn Ridge, and the city said the complex has nearly 30 red-tagged units, but the problem goes deeper. City officials say Lansing currently has 686 red-tagged units and 327 pink-tagged locations.
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“That's too many, that’s too many,” Williams said.
Lansing has been without a code compliance manager for a little over a month now, and recently, the city posted the position online. Williams has some expectations for the person who will fill the spot.
“I think the expectation is talk to the residents, why the red tags? Help us understand. Hire more staff, I mean you have nine code compliance officers covering the whole Lansing,” she said.
Lansing officials confirmed that there are only nine code enforcement officers in the city, and Lansing City Council member Ryan Kost said the new code compliance manager needs to have experience to tackle this problem.
“Get someone that’s qualified. Someone not looking for retirement job, but someone with years and looking to really build Lansing,” Kost said.
We went to Mayor Andy Schor and asked him exactly when he would like to have the position filled. He said it's hard to give a definite answer because the city has a lot of positions to fill.
“A lot of these spots are a priority,” Schor said. “If you think a code compliance is more important than a police officer, that’s your opinion, but a lot of vacant positions are a priority and HR is doing their best to get them filled.”
Going back to Rosalyn Williams, she’s no longer in a hotel and is staying with a friend. Even though her unit was red tagged, she does miss being in a place she once called her own.
“Those are the types of things I am going to miss the most, the community, family and the relationships built there,” she said.
At the state level, the Michigan Legislature is considering about 30 bills that are being packaged as the Renters Bill of Rights that one state representative in the Lansing area says could help fix the red-tag issue in the city.
