Legislation has been proposed that would allow Rent Control in Michigan, but will it get enough support?

The Rent is Too Damn High Rally that happened on September 5th in Lansing, has already pushed politicians to proposed legislation to allow for Rent Control in Michigan.

The statewide coalition of groups that came together to push politicians with 4 demands, is already gained some traction, since on September 7th, Rep. Carrie Rheingans proposed HB 4947, which states:

A bill to repeal 1988 PA 226, entitled “An act to limit the powers of a local governmental unit regarding the leasing of private residential property,” (MCL 123.411). 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: 1 Enacting section 1. 1988 PA 226, MCL 123.411, is repealed. 2 Enacting section 2. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days 3 after the date it is enacted into law.

Now, this is just a proposal, which means it will have to go through the normal legislative process. On September 7th, HB 4947 was referred to Committee on Economic Development and Small Business, which is made up of 13 members, 8 Democrats and 5 Republicans. Once this committee discusses the matter, they are likely to hold a public hearing on the issue.

While there is a growing coalition centered around renters rights and rent control, you can bet that the Real Estate industry and the Property Owners Associations across the state will be lobbying state legislators heavily in the coming months, along with making sizable campaign contributions to candidates and incumbents for the 2024 elections. In fact, the Realtors Political Action Committee of Michigan has already contributed $10,000 to the Michigan Senate Democratic Fund, $10,000 to the Michigan House Democratic Fund, $5,000 to the House Republican Campaign Committee, $5,000 to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee and several candidates running for office in 2024, most of which are incumbents, according to State Campaign Finance records for just the July 2023 campaign contributions. 

The other question to consider is how quickly any public hearing will be held and whether or not they issue will be taken up this fall? If the proposed legislation that would allow communities to put in place rent control in their communities doesn’t happen before the end of 2023, we might now see any action in 2024. Rent Control might be seen as too radical and political candidates, especially incumbents do not want to be seen as supporting policies that are “radical” – meaning that such policies really serve the people. 

However, if the growing Rent is Too Damn High statewide coalition can continue to apply the necessary pressure on current state officials, then maybe we can get a hearing on Rent Control in Michigan before the end of the year. 

Locally, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union is encouraging people to sign on to an Action Alert that would pressure Senator Brinks, who is the current Senate Majority Leader, to embrace the four demands of the statewide Rent is Too Damn High coalition. Just go to this link to sign a digital letter to Senator Brinks, then share it with your social media circles.

However, even if the state efforts to win Rent Control won’t happen through legislation, that doesn’t mean we can’t be working on Rent Control right now on a local level. Rent control campaigns have been won by getting tenants from specific Landlords or Property Management Companies, when tenants are organized. 

What a landlord/Property Management Company rent control campaign would look like, is to organize tenants in a particular community who all rent from the same landlord or Property Management Company. If we begin to identify Landlords and Property Management Companies that own multiple properties, we could also connect with other communities in the state to see if these same Landlords and Property Management Companies have tenants in their cities. Building a statewide movement for rent control could also happen like this. 

In fact, no tenant movement should put all their eggs in the basket of getting governments to adopt rent control, since we can do the work directly in our own communities right now. We can work on a rent control strategy that is 2 pronged, both government and landlord/Property Management Company as targets. Plus, the advantage of targeting Landlords and Property Management Companies is that you can demand more than just rent control, thus tackling multiple demands that would make any tenant movement more robust. 

If you are a renter and this is something that you want to be involved in, then please contact the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union by sending an e-mail to gratunion@gmail.com or leaving a message on their Facebook page.