LANSING, Mich. — A group of tenants in Lansing started a union in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic to help protect against evictions.
The Lansing Tenants Union formed in March after realizing that it would be a struggle for a number of residents to pay their rent.
“We’re not lawyers, we do not give legal advice, but we want to support people and give them moral support so that they can advocate for themselves in those processes,” member Rikki Reynolds said.
The Lansing Tenants Union has pulled resources and support. They even organized an eviction defense hotline made up of several groups and community activists.
They’ve received over a hundred calls and emails so far after the state’s ban on evictions was lifted.
“On one hand I’m not surprised because we know that landlords have been waiting, desperate for the first chance that they can get to kick people out,” Reynolds said. “But on the hand, things change so much at the state level that we were kind of expecting another curve ball.”
Reynolds says the bulk of their concern is with the backlog of cases.
“We’re seeing people with not a lot of warning, right,” Reynolds said. “Even though they knew they were facing potential evictions back in March. Everything was so uncertain for a few months. They also faced the same hardships, and now they’re getting really short notice to leave or go to court.”
State officials have warned there could be a backlog of 75,000 cases of eviction filings waiting to be sent.
The governor’s office is offering assistant through it’s $50 million Eviction Diversion Program. The funds will be sent to local agencies throughout the state, but Reynolds said it’s complicated and may not be enough.
“We can’t save everyone from eviction and I don’t think people really understand the scale of the eviction crisis that we’re about to face,” Reynolds said. “We can’t win all of this just by showing up to every case in court or negotiating with every single landlord. We need the state to act to stop this.”
For more information about the Lansing Tenant’s Union, visit their website. For more housing resources, visit the Capital Area Housing Partnership’s guide.
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