Student housin
.is apniority for U7
The roof is on fire
BY ALAN LEVY
What is the proper role for the
University with regard to its role in
influencing or contributing to the
off-campus student housing environ-
ment? The Michigan Daily has been
editorializing on this topic for many
years, as has the Ann Arbor News. It
is probably safe to say that there still
remains no clear consensus on how
that role should be defined, but we can
offer some summary and insights as to
how the University has offered support
to its students, as well as identify a new
effort recently underway.
The University houses about 30 per-
cent of the student body (undergraduate
and graduate) in on-campus residence
halls and apartments; this percentage
has stayed consistent since the early
1970s. The availability of on-campus
housing will not change substantially
in the foreseeable future, even with the
recently announced plans for a new
residence hall. Consequently, off-cam-
pus hsing w2 iyain s
comonen of nivrsit stdentlif
the Off-Campus Housing Program
have very knowledgeable staff read-
ily available to students with regard
to their rights and responsibilities as a
tenant, making good decisions prior to
signing any lease agreement, as well as
advice and guidance once they experi-
ence difficulties either with their land-
lord or, as is frequently the case, with
another student-tenant. It is the case,
as both the Daily and the Michigan
Student Assembly have argued, that
neither entity plays the same primary
advocacy role for student-tenants as
did the Ann Arbor Tenants Union
until it stopped providing service for
students in 2003. But the AATU, for a
variety of reasons, had not been effec-
tive for students for a number of years
prior to the cessation of its availability
to students.
About a year ago, the Office of
Community Affairs, University Hous-
ing and Student Affairs began an ini-
tiative to bring together on a regular
basis historically adversarial groups
gor groups that worked hard not to
face-to-face conversations with
done er. This initiative, Campus
N ehbo olves representatives
from students, nly MSA repre-
sentatives involved' ng-related
commissions)l andlords rty
BY JASON MIRONOv
In 1958, University officials and
The Michigan Daily acknowledged
an impending housing crisis. It was
A widely known that enrollment was
going to increase through the '70s (and
further), and Ann Arbor simply did
not have the capacity to handle such a
A i l$.l fdramatic influx of students. Residence
S W EA hall living, while appealing for first-
AE and second-year students, had fallen
out of favor with upperclassman. At
one point, the University planned for
N 5 incredible growth on North Campus,
even attempting to create a Fraternity
Row. So the University administrators
did what they thought was best: They
. A stopped building residence hall living
that appealed to the student body, leav-
ing Ann Arbor's brightest to defend
. - *' themselves in the jungle that is off-
campus housing.
So with that background, many of
our classmates now live in sub-standard
shelter - which, naturally, is three
S $times the cost of an apartment at any
other college town in Michigan. Hor-
ror stories of black mold, leaky ceilings
and electrical conditions that could
make a mother cry are as common-
place as blue books and hangovers. In
the past few months, three fires ravaged
housing all over campus, threatening
AA Fthe very lives of Michigan's students.
So the city of Ann Arbor took action
against the obvious culprits: our uphol-
stered acquaintances which adorn our
ever-crumbling porches.
Unfortunately, it's not just students
directly affected by this blatant disrespect
" ,for the quality of living. One landlord in
Ann Arbor allegedly poses as a devoted
Al O' i.i Shusband in order to purchase housing
zoned, but not yet converted, for student
living. After purchasing the unit, some-
F for your ghts
times deeply entrenched in a residential
neighborhood, it is then converted into
tenement-style housing and packed chock
full o' students. What better way to endear
yourself to the neighbors then to offer
them the "welcome to the neighborhood"
beer bong?
As your elected student representa-
tives, the responsibility to organize
around tenant issues falls upon us. In
the past, the Michigan Student Assem-
bly "outsourced" this responsibility to
the Ann Arbor Tenants Union. At first,
the relationship was kismet, but accord-
ing to my predecessors, the service at
the turn of this century left much to be
desired.
There are a few things you can do
to ensure that you have the best tenant
experience possible. First, utilize the
new Housing Review website at www.
msa.umich.edu. By posting feedback on
your current landlord and searching
feedback on one's potential property
owner, the loop of communication will
encourage rental from only the most
attentive landlords.
Next, take advantage of the resources
currently in place. Student Legal Services
offers free legal counseling for every-
thing from abusive contracts to mold,
and is conveniently located on the second
floor of the Union. MSA is also proud
to announce its plan to work with SLS
Director Doug Lewis to increase the staff
to include a dedicated housing attorney.
Such a program derives from a '70s initia-
tive that influenced local housing legisla-
tion. Expect further updates in upcoming
weeks on how to encourage this change.
Lastly, MSA is going to unveil a
"housing hotline" that will be staffed
during normal business hours and
will help students unlock the abun-
dant resources recently available, This
housing hotline will also help students
file complaints with the city and will
record statistics on specific landlords
that will be featured on the website.
This pilot should hopefully be avail-
able at the beginning of next semester.
The overriding theme is that the
tools for successful landlord/tenant
relationships are snowballing -
increased through the efforts of MSA
and various members of the admin-
istrative community. Coalitions of
residents, students and landlords are
working through the multi-stake-
holder "Campus Neighbors" group to
develop programming and resources
for all the residents of Ann Arbor.
Furthermore, this means that students
need to make an effort to integrate
into their communities,, specifically
if there is a large percentage of non-
students. Knock on your neighbors'
doors and introduce yourself, offer to
rake the leaves or mow the lawn (if
you're ambitious). At the very least,
please be respectful of the needs of
your neighborhood.
MSA shares the excitement about
the new residence hall replacing the
decrepit Frieze Building, and applauds
the University for the preservation of the
Carnegie Library. Gradually, it seems,
the University is recognizing the need
for cheap, effective and quality student
housing both on and off campus.
Have a question or suggestion? Want
to be a member of the newly formed Stu-
dent Legal Services Oversight Commit-
tee? Want to get involved? E-mail msa.
housing@umich.edu.
MSA: We've got you covered. Check
out our meetings at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays
on the third floor of the Union.
Mironov is a Business School senior
and president of the Michigan Student
Assembly.
hOf f o Pg
The - i
gram, p f tfora
Office, h be assistan .
and sup t s stutoden'
populatio or years, one
of the old programs of its kind in th
United St s. Its mission is to encour
age and h students to find and main
tain a living environment conduciv
and complimentary to their academic
experience. More than 500 landlords
and property managers are registered
with the program, which requires
them to use either a Housing-approved
lease or a functional equivalent and to
agree to participate in landlord-tenant
dispute resolution before resorting to
litigation in the courts. In addition,
the program offers a large array of
publications and handouts utilized by
thousands of University students each
year. It sponsors a housing fair (sched-
uled for Monday) that gives students
an opportunity to meet with dozens of
property managers and comparatively
shop for off-campus housing that best
meets their needs.
The staff of the Off-Campus Hous-
ing Program sees many hundreds
of students annually, providing one-
on-one advice to conducting room-
mate -matching sessions in August.
Its professionally trained mediator
conducts more than a 100 landlord-
tenant mediations a year, many of
which result in negotiated agree-
ments between the parties that saves
them from going to court and expen-
sive litigation. The University is one
of fewer than five U.S. campuses that
offer this kind of conflict resolution
service.
Student Legal Services provides
legal advice and representation to
students involved in landlord-tenant
disputes. Funded through student fees,
there are no additional charges for
consultation with attorneys. The four
attorneys on the SLS staff can also
assist students in avoiding contentious
relations with landlords by providing
advice and guidance in advance of
signing binding leases.
SLS and the OCH frequently col-
laborate to keep landlord-student ten-
ant situations from escalating from
conflict to litigation. Both SLS and
tives on these issues and taking initial
steps at working collaboratively.
Our goal for this academic year
is to move to the next level by col-
laborating more substantively on
developing long-term strategies and
practices to better deal with several
of our identified critical issues. Spe-
cifically, we hope to address ways to
moderate and curtail the pressures
of early leasing, which negatively
impinge on both students and land-
lords in ways that are not always
readily apparent or appreciated.
The University actually provides
more direct service to the off-cam-
pus student population than almost
all of its peer institutions around the
country. Is it enough or the right kind
of service or support? The answer is
very much in the eyes of the beholder,
but the Campus Neighbors discus-
sions are helping to shape new ways
in which the University can construc-
tively work with students, the city
and the private sector in improving
student neighborhoods. While there
are some limitations as to how far the
University can or should go to affect
the activities of the private sector, we
certainly have a strong interest in the
quality of off-campus environments
because of the impact they have on
town-gown relations at the broader
level as well as on the ability of Uni-
versity students to live in a setting
that facilitates their academic success
and personal growth.
NOTE: If you are interested in
participating in the Campus Neigh-
bors discussions, send an e-mail to
housing@umich.edu, and we'll add your
name to the e-mail group to receive
notices about future meetings.
Levy is the University Housing
spokesman.
BY JARED GOLDBERG
I frequently get into political arguments with my one
of my roommates. His political persuasion requires
him to try and convince me that the federal govern-
ment needs to be smaller and that people should trust
corporations to do charity work and provide social
services. But, when it comes to landlord-tenant rela-
tions, this line of thinking is just downright silly. Stu-
dents need to realize that landlords are corporations
looking out for their interests and their interests only,
and students need to be
vigilant if they wish to
protect their rights.
The state of Michi-
gan has some of the
best landlord-tenant
laws in the nation. To
many, it does not seem
that way, but accord-
ing to the University's
Student Legal Services For de-
- which provides free
legal services to stu-
dents in landlord-tenant
disputes - landlords 76
get away with so much
because students just
do not take the time to protect their rights. Accord-
ing to the last count, there are complaints against
every landlord in town. Among the worst, there are
complaints consistently every year. Repeat offenders,
just do not care about the complaints of their tenants
because they do not fear the law. The tenants do not
exploit the legal opportunities available to them. We
always complain about how our landlords are slum-
lords, yet we are simply too lazy to do anything about
them.
But, as much as SLS can help students - which in
most cases is limited to only legal advice as initial disputes
between a landlord and his tenants must be handled by the
tenants themselves - they have a certain role. They do
not advocate collectively for tenant rights in the absence of
the courts. That's not their function. There was, however,
one organization, that did represent students collectively
against their landlords: the Ann Arbor Tenants Union.
Because of a host of reasons, the AATU was shut down
not too long ago by the Michigan Student Assembly. But,
the void of a collective bargaining tool needs to be filled, as
landlord-tenant relations have deteriorated. MSA President
Jason Mironov is working to establish a new organization
to protect students in landlord-tenant disputes (see The roof
is on fire, above). It's about time. What Ann Arbor residents
need here is an organization that can bring them together
and get them some collective muscle against the all-power-
ful landlords. Landlords have the audacity that they have
because we do not collectively organize. It's high time they
began to fear the power of the tenants rather than taken
advantage of them.
What we needed is
more laws to protect
the tenants. Michigan
already does have some
of the best laws in the
country regarding ten-
ant rights. In most
states, for example, the
security deposit is the
property of the land-
-ails c l lord. If a tenant has a
dispute over a with-
held security deposit,
24 5 9 he needs to prove that
he deserves it back.
Michigan law stipulates
it belongs to the tenant.
If a tenant has a dispute over a withheld security deposit,
the landlord must prove why he can keep it. If he can-
not, it needs to be returned. Nonetheless, more legislation
is needed, laws that lead to a better efficiency in getting
security deposits back. Laws that give stiffer penalties
to criminal landlords, laws that prevent landlords from
charging tenants for things those landlords should pay
for, laws that favor arbitration and do not discourage ten-
ants from suing landlords who do the wrong thing.
Nothing is perfect as it stands. As the saying goes,
change is good. When it comes to landlords and ten-
ants in Ann Arbor, change is the best option we have.
The status quo should be unacceptable. Tenants are not
asking for more rights than landlords. Tenants should
be asking for the same rights accorded to every other
consumer in any other industry. And they should not
stop until they have them.
Goldberg is an LSA junior and a member of the Daily's
editorial board.
I