Posted on 10/23/2004 10:52:05 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
College students face high rent, dangerous overcrowding 10/23/2004, 11:33 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
A few years ago, Mike VanConant and his two roommates, all Michigan State University students, invited three extra people to live in their six-bedroom rental home to cut costs.
But that violated city regulations that limited the number of people that could live in the home to three and everyone living there was slapped with a $259 fine.
"It's worth over-occupying in East Lansing considering the price of rent here," VanConant told the Lansing State Journal for a Saturday story. He moved out after receiving the ticket, but said he had planned to leave anyway.
Overcrowding has been receiving new attention after dozens of students narrowly escaped a Sept. 24 fire in an off-campus apartment building that is now being investigated for over-occupancy.
The cause of the fire is unrelated, but officials are investigating to see why more people than allowed were living there.
"It's a huge problem," said East Lansing Housing Inspector Jim Graham, who goes into students' homes daily to check for violations, including over-occupancy. "Especially in cases of emergencies. If a place is licensed for four people and there's a fire, rescuers aren't thinking to look for seven."
In VanConant's case, his house had many bedrooms, but was licensed for few people. The size of the house doesn't mean it has adequate wiring, parking or other amenities to accommodate large numbers of tenants, officials said.
Overcrowding scenarios have played out for decades in East Lansing where more than 30,000 students live off campus, many paying $300 to $500 a month on average to share apartments and houses.
Student-crammed rental homes pose a litany of threats and nuisances. Homes built 60 years ago for family living are not equipped to handle the demand of multiple renters who overload electrical outlets, wear down floor supports and live in spaces — from closets to wet basements — that aren't designed for living.
In addition to safety concerns, neighbors and city officials say too many renters in one home lead to excessive noise, run-down housing and city streets clogged with cars.
East Lansing has gotten tougher on tenants who overcrowd and landlords who allow it. In the past, the only penalty for over-occupancy was a one-time fine.
In 2001, East Lansing hired a housing inspector whose only job is to seek out and investigate properties that are potentially over occupied. That year 78 properties were ticketed, up from three the year before.
And, starting earlier this year, students get slapped with two — not one — tickets for over occupying.
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Information from: Lansing State Journal, http://www.lansingstatejournal.com
A few years back I posted a rant about big brother searching inside people's castles in the People's Republic of East Lansing. It's gotten worse since I left.
Call everything a fire hazard and make a killing off of the fines to lower your budget defecit. Revenue enhancement officers at their worst. Also pleases the insurance lobbies there as well. Win Win for the city.
Out here, I pay only $80(I was at one of the cheapest spots in East Lansing too right on the Lansing border) more a month for three times the space and an extra room, a dishwasher, and air conditioning. Most importantly, I'm treated as an adult here and I haven't had any problems whatsoever with the town I'm at.
Maybe they need to have another riot
They like that up there at MSU
EL wasn't too bad a place to live. In 1985-6.
Fooey.
KEEP OHIO CLEAN - DUMP YOUR TRASH IN MICHIGAN. GO BUCKS!
When are illegal aliens and recent legal immigrants ever busted for such illegal crowding into a house or rental unit? Nationwide, not necessarily East Lansing.
My sister lived in off campus housing there in the mid 80s. Overcrowding was the least of her problems there.
Makes sense. Why would three people require a six-bedroom house to themselves?
But that violated city regulations that limited the number of people that could live in the home to three and everyone living there was slapped with a $259 fine.
Congratulations to the Lansing people for having the most ridiculous, pro-socialist and anti-family ordinances on the books. And here I thought California had the kook market cornered...
Never. Even when several illegals die in a housefire or carbon monoxide poisoning due to their hazardous living conditions, nobody is ever hauled off to jail. All that happens is the local media runs a teary, doe-eyed "ain't it awful that America is so mean to illegals?" puff piece.
"The authorities" are too chicken shit to go try this with illegal aliens. Even the legal aliens pull this crap. Long ago Los Angeles gave up on enforcing building permits as far as additions to houses in Chinese and Mexican neighborhoods. These wonderful immigrants simply DO NOT go out and get permits they would be denied by law.
The ordinances, as I understand it, only apply to non-families (i.e., more than a certain number of unrelated people living together).
It's actually getting better. Eyde Co. is slapping down apartment complexes on any spare bit of green space. Most of this is happening just outside the borders of EL. The university is about to tear down & rebuild the nasty apartments along the red cedar to the east of campus. A lot of this hype & whining is driven by absentee landlords who are pissed the city won't give them bigger rental permits.
I grew up five blocks from the U and we had overcrowding and student slumlords 30 years ago. Meanwhile, there are fewer students, more closer apartments, and new complexes to the north with good bus service.
The desire to live off campus but close has ruined much of the Bailey and Central neighborhoods for families. You have delinated zones for multiple, duplex and single family. Fifteen years ago, supposedly a Vet school Prof shared a house in the single family zone with vet students. Haven't seen an older person in many years, but the house (across the street from my folks) has had students ever since. I think that the number of allowed renters generally was reduced a few years back. Many of the student houses were built 80-110 years ago, or outside the original city limits with where the building code was non-existant. Most of the small ranches or capes east of Gunson have been replaced by student fourplexes tht fill much of the lot.
The real question is why tuition has been allowed to jump so much over inflation with little to show for the extra cost. But most reporters and editors are too lazy to do the research.
If Kerry wins, these problems will be the least of their worries.
Subject: I Got My Draft Card.
“I got my draft card,” that is what you will be hearing, if Kerry wins and you or anyone you love is of draft age. Kerry winning will very likely end up causing a draft; the reasons are because the military is spread thin, Kerry has alienated our alliances, and Halliburton has said over and over that if they don’t have enough protection for their employees they will pull out. Kerry said he plans to add 40,000 troops. So, lets see what will more likely happen if Kerry is elected.
First of all, Kerry has alienated our alliances. These countries will more likely start pulling their troops out. THIS MEANS WE WILL BE THAT MANY MORE TROOPS SHORT.
Second, Halliburton will pull out because their employees will not have enough protection. This means that military personnel will have to fill these thousands of empty job positions. THIS MEANS WE WILL BE THAT MANY MORE TROOPS SHORT.
Third, the military is already spread thin. THIS MEANS KERRY AS PRESIDENT WILL HAVE TO BRING BACK THE DRAFT. This can cause another Vietnam and thousands of lives lost, because Kerry will want to save face. Remember he said, “Just because Bush couldn’t do the job doesn’t mean that he can’t do the job.”
Fourth, Kerry said he plans to add 40,000 troops. THIS MEANS THAT THERE WILL BE A DRAFT.
NOTE: Right now, the United States is training Iraq troops so that they can take over and we can bring our soldiers back home. I hope that we can be smart enough on Nov 2nd to give the Bush Administration the opportunity to accomplish this goal.
It's not unusual to find 14-15 adults and children living in a old dingey one-bedroom apartment -- sleeping on the floors, or 3 families stuffed into a 2-bedroom 40 year old mobile home --- odd that 6 Americans cannot live in a big house without being fined.
Here they've actually raised tuition on the students who actually work and pay their own way so they can come up financial aid for those who don't want to work their way through college. That was actually the justification for the last big tuition hike. The lazy are entitled after all.
My college town - Fort Collins, CO - has the same "three-unrelated" law that nobody heeds, but apparently they also allow only "a married couple and their children" as the definition of a family. So if Granny moves in with the kids, it's breaking the law...
I don't have a problem since I live in an apartment by myself but it does seem like government sticking its nose in again. There are plenty of situations where more than three adults can safely occupy a house.
Yeah sure it's nice out in Holt, but ya still have to park out in one of the bookdocks commuter lots on the South side of campus and ride the puke special jitney (the ones without springs or shocks) in and out of campus twice a day. Just give me something simple hard by Grand River any old day and I'll hump it on down to the Red Cedar on my own, thank you ... even on snow days.
Lots of places try the same thing. It's almost always invalidated. I'm not sure how far out courts would be willing to stretch the bonds of consanguinity, but I've never seen a case where the court permitted the municipality to kick out parents and grandparents.
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