The Rent is Too Damn High Coalition gives Michigan Democrats a 30 Day Notice on passing bills that would benefit tenants

On Wednesday, roughly 250 tenant activists showed up in Lansing to participate in an action organized by the statewide coalition known as the Rent is Too Damn High.

People from all over the state gathered at a church located right across from the state capitol to talk about the 9 bills that the coalition wants to see passed by Democratic lawmakers during the lame duck session. (see list of bills below) In addition, people spent time talking about how best to pressure Democratic lawmakers in their districts, while the crowd of activists had lunch. A couple of the Lansing-based organizers then walked everyone through the action that would take place inside the capitol.

While waiting for everyone to enter the capitol building, the crowd engaged in several chants, in order to build some excitement for when they got in. A couple of the new chants were used, chants that specifically targeted Democratic Party Lawmakers.

No excuses, No excuses. Show the people you’re not useless!

Don’t lose twice. Pass renters’ rights!

Once everyone entered the building, they divided up on the 2nd and 3rd floors, in the rotunda area, which you can see in the video here.

Between the chants and the general disruption, there were several tenant activists that spoke to the crowd in order to keep the energy up for the ongoing renter fight ahead.

After about 30 minutes, the group split in two and went to the offices of the Michigan House leader, Joe Tate, and the Senate Majority leader, Winnie Brinks. People had filled out sticky notes while they were at the church, notes that called on both Tate and Brinks to pass all nine bills that the statewide coalition was calling for. People placed the sticky notes on the door and walls just outside of Tate and Brinks’ office, as you can see from the picture below.

The Lansing Capitol security tried to prevent people from doing this, but people persisted as they were just sticky notes.

The statewide coalition kept emphasizing that this was the last opportunity for Democratic Party lawmakers to pass these bills, since they will lose control of the State House after the New Year. The Rent is Too Damn High Coalition even posted the creative signs – shown here below – signs that mimic eviction notices that tenants will often seen from landlords.

The action was creative, engaging and used a variety of tactics to get the point across.

There were a few tenant activists that met with Rep. Kristian Grant (Grand Rapids), since she chairs the Housing Committee. One of the persons who met with Grant told me that she felt that it was only be possible to pass 2 or three of the nine bills that were introduced over the past 12 months. Part of the problem, according to Rep. Grant, was that there were several Democratic Party lawmakers that were not showing up legislative session, specifically the ones who lost in the November 5th Election.

During the information session at the church, one of the Lansing tenant organizers share a story about Rep. Joe Tate, who had called one of the Rental Property Owner Associations and apologize that these bills had been introduced, but that he did not intend to pass them. Lastly, there was also some discussion from other organizers, which stated that they had heard that Gov. Whitmer did not want to sign any of these bills into law, since it could negatively impact her ability to run for President in 2028. If the Michigan Democrats don’t pass these renter rights bills within the next 30 days, they will likely lose even more potential supporters, which would confirm the point that Senator Bernie Sanders made recently, that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working class.