UPDATE (10/2/24): East Lansing City Attorney confirms that homeowners can have guests stay for unlimited periods. More here. 

UPDATE (9/26/24): The Bailey Community Association opposes Proposal 1 and supports the Save Our Neighborhoods EL campaign! More here.

This November, East Lansing residents will be asked to vote on a proposal that would potentially do away with the regulation of rental properties and affect every neighborhood in the City. The proposal, which will appear on the ballot as “East Lansing Proposal 1,” was initiated by a citizen petition drive. If passed, it will amend the City Charter—the equivalent of our City’s Constitution. 

We urge you to vote NO. Why? Because our current zoning is flexible and does not require a rental license for:

• Multi-generational families to live together.

• Seniors to age in place.

• Guests to stay with homeowners, without time limits.

• Child care and medical helpers to live with homeowners.

• House-sitting for extended periods.

In short, our current zoning allows homeowners to use their property as they wish, while also preserving the charming East Lansing neighborhoods that we all treasure. 

At worst, EL Proposal 1 would overturn all the City’s rental regulations, including the rental restriction overlay that protects your neighborhood against more rental proliferation, as well as the City’s authority to regulate short-term rentals. There’s big money in tailgate rentals and corporate-owned housing in a Big 10 college town, and if this ballot proposal passes, no East Lansing neighborhood will be safe.

At best, EL Proposal 1 would create a loophole where tenants don’t pay money (“rent”) but instead pay utilities or other costs of owning a home in return for living in unregulated and possibly unsafe spaces. These de facto rentals exist now, and under EL Proposal 1 the number will grow. The City won’t be able to place safety-based limits on occupancy, make sure tenants are sleeping in rooms with proper egress, or even require code inspections and updates. These rentals will be unsafe for tenants and will destabilize neighborhoods, just like we have seen in the past.

Either way, EL Proposal 1 will take us back to a time when families fled East Lansing because landlords converted entire blocks of neighborhood homes into income-generating assets, and when the schools suffered because the children moved with the families. According to the latest census data, East Lansing’s owner-occupied housing rate is under 40%. It is imperative that we preserve our neighborhoods for long-term residents.

Town-gown problems. We love MSU students and their contributions to our community, but long-term residents are in very different phases of life than their student neighbors. As MSU's enrollment grows and more students move off campus, we will continue to ask the City to explore positive solutions so that we have housing options for residents of ALL ages and backgrounds.

Want to know more? Explore our website!