There is no fair housing in Grand Rapids, because there is no fair judicial system: Housing Justice was the focus of Sunday’s events

On Sunday, April 28th, there were two events in Grand Rapids that centered on Housing Justice. There was a rally organized by the group Nation Outside that was pushing legislation that would not create barriers for the formerly incarcerated to access housing, which was followed by a Michigan Civil Right Commission public hearing on housing discrimination.

What was billed as a rally was more of a Press Conference hosted by Nation Outside, which calls itself the voice of the formerly incarcerated. There were a few politicians that spoke, but the most impactful comments came from two members of Nation Outside, pictured here above. Both spoke about their experience of being discriminated against by landlords and property management companies, despite the fact that they served time. They presented those at the Press Conference with information about HB 4878, which would prohibit landlords from asking people about their criminal history. HB 4878 was introduced last year, but it needs to get passed this year before the Democrats could possibly lose control of the State Legislature. 

The second event, which was held at the Community Transformation Center, was organized by the Michigan Civil Right Commission. Their event was a public hearing that allowed people to talk about their experience of being discriminated against while seeking or staying in housing. Unfortunately, this event was sparsely attended, as you can see in the picture here below, with lots of empty seats. 

There were a number of people representing housing organizations that spoke to the panel of Michigan Civil Rights Commissioners, groups such as the NAACP, the FAIR Housing Center of West MI, Farmworker Legal Services, Linc Up, Nation Outside and the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union. All of those groups spoke about the work they do around housing justice along with providing concrete examples of the struggles that people have to access fair housing. 

However, the most powerful testimony came from people who are currently being discriminated against around housing, along with some powerful analysis of why there is limited or little housing justice in the Grand Rapids area. 

There was a man who lives in a mobil park home with his elderly mother who stated that they were facing eviction from the mobil home park. The company that bought the mobil home park in recent years had jacked up the cost of renting space in the mobil home park. Another man who took a bus from Flint, Michigan to speak at the hearing, talked about how he has experienced numerous types of discrimination, but the housing discrimination has been the worst, because he has a criminal background and because he is a Black man.

Then there was testimony from an older African American woman who had stayed in one of Degage’s shelter’s and how difficult it was for her with a fixed income to access housing. She said she has been in a fight for the past 2 years just to be able to stay in the place she now lives.  There was also a woman who was hearing impaired who communicated how she could not get her landlord to provide basic services to make it easier to communicate with the landlord or receive messages from anyone who wanted to visit or companies that wanted to make a delivery to her apartment. 

There were several other area residents who spoke about the fact that the cost of rent in this city is unattainable for most people. Class and income discrimination were the most dominant theme regarding housing discrimination. 

Another African American woman began her comments by asking the Michigan Civil Rights Commissioners, “what have they done lately,” referring to whether or not the commission has actually changed policies that would  benefit the most vulnerable in this city and across Michigan.

Maybe the most powerful testimony came from an African America man who was born and raised in Grand Rapids. He said, “There is no fair housing in GR, because there is no fair judicial system.” He was kicked out of where he was living and then took the case to court, but the courts dismissed the case, partly because he believed that the landlord at a friendly relationship with the judge who presided over his case. 

A coupe of final observations were that not one single politician bothered to come to the public hearing to listen to people talk about being discriminated against, about not being able to afford rental costs, along with the constant threat of eviction. There was one staff person representing State Rep. Glandville, but refusal to make the public hearing a priority speaks volume about what politicians value, which is not really listening to the struggles of people who are constantly housing insecure. There was also no representation from groups like Housing Next, the GR Chamber of Commerce created group, which is the current media darling. Their absence is instructive, since it demonstrates their commitment to a market-driven housing system as opposed to housing justice.