The views expressed here are not the official views of the Ann Arbor Renters Commission
I speak to a lot of renters and they tell me a lot of things: horror stories galore of insect infestations, collapsing ceilings and even outright theft of rental deposits. Of all of the disturbing anecdotes I hear, one issue is consistently at the top of the list: affordability.
It doesn’t take an in-depth economic analysis to understand that the cost of rent in our city is skyrocketing at the moment. According to Zillow.com, the median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Ann Arbor is now $1,600. A common piece of advice to new renters is to pick an apartment that costs no more than 30% of your yearly gross salary. Applying this rule to our local rental market means that to afford an apartment at median cost in Ann Arbor, you now need to earn about $64,000 a year. This is completely unattainable for many renters in our city and it’s time for us renters to ask a question: Why in the name of god is the rent so damn high?
While property and rental costs have been increasing practically everywhere in the U.S., the problem of rental inflation is particularly bad in Ann Arbor. There are three major reasons for this: a lack of housing supply, a lack of regulation and a lack of tenant organizing. A Lansing-based coalition aptly named the Rent is Too Damn High is trying to address these three problems with three demands directed at Michigan’s state legislature: first, by investing $5 billion to create social housing and housing-first programs; second, by repealing the ban on city-level rent control; and third, by passing a comprehensive tenants’ bill of rights.
Let’s start with that first demand. There have been numerous proposals to increase the number of rental units in town ranging from relaxing zoning laws to building more dorms on campus to encouraging the construction of accessory dwelling units, but discussion of social housing, which is designed to be decommodified and offered at below-market prices, as part of the solution to the supply problem has been almost nonexistent.
There are different ways to accomplish this, including the creation of more government-owned housing and cooperative housing as well as the establishment of community land trusts. By making significant investments in new social housing, we ensure that low-income residents receive housing and we also reduce the market price of non-social housing units by expanding supply.
The second demand regarding rent control is perhaps more controversial than social housing because of its unexpected consequences, but it can nonetheless be an important tool for stabilizing rent prices. Rent control is a broad term that describes policies designed to regulate the cost of rent, often focusing on limiting rent increases. Different versions of rent control exist around the country and around the world with notable examples in France, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, parts of Canada and more. If the ban on rent control in Michigan is repealed, we can at least start a serious conversation about whether there is a correct rent control policy for Ann Arbor.
Finally, we desperately need better tenant protections in our state. For most renters in Michigan, landlords can arbitrarily increase rent, refuse lease renewal (not for Ann Arborites however) and charge fees for whatever they want. The tenant-hostile legal environment in our state makes organizing difficult; the lack of a tenants’ union in our city today is a sad testament to this fact. A comprehensive tenants’ bill of rights would make tenants secure enough to file complaints against abusive landlords and to organize within their complexes to form tenant associations that can demand better conditions and negotiate the cost of rent through collective bargaining just as the McKinley Tenant Association is already doing.
On Sept. 5, the Rent is Too Damn High coalition hosted a rally in front of the Capitol Building in Lansing to demand these three changes from our legislators.
While we absolutely need state-level action, there are affordability measures that can be implemented right here at the local level. One such measure is aimed at abolishing so-called junk fees.
You may have noticed that landlords have recently implemented many new fees related to “pre-leasing” or waitlists. These fee systems came about after a 2021 city-wide ban on early leasing. The law, nicknamed the “Amended Early Leasing Ordinance,” aims to prevent the mad dash for apartments that often occurs between September and November by prohibiting signing leases before certain dates. For example, for a lease that ends on Aug. 20, the landlord cannot legally show the apartment or sign a lease with another prospective tenant before March 23 of that year.
One of the most commonly exploited loopholes in the law is the waitlist agreement. Waitlist agreements are contracts between landlords and prospective tenants that secure a spot on reservation lists for occupied apartments and houses. However, being on the waitlist does not guarantee you an apartment and these agreements are frequently accompanied by hefty fees and deposits. And because they’re not actually leasing contracts, they’re not regulated by the city’s ban on early leasing.
In April 2023, the Ann Arbor Renters Commission, which advises the City Council on rental issues, released a report on waitlist fees showing that the cost of waitlist fees ranges from several hundred dollars to nearly $10,000 for a single apartment (albeit one with five bedrooms). In the report, the commission suggests that the council ban all rental fees that are charged before the beginning of the lease regardless of whether the fees are refundable. This includes application fees, cleaning fees, credit check fees and, of course, the dreaded waitlist fees. If the City Council acts on this recommendation, paid waitlists would disappear entirely, the loophole would be closed and the price that is advertised for a unit would be the price you pay.
It’s time the renters of our city become better advocates for ourselves and demand that landlords hold up their end of the bargain. Clean apartments, timely repairs and affordable rents are not luxuries, they should be a given. Let’s build tenant power in this city and win substantive change for ourselves and our neighbors.
Zackariah Farah is the Chair of the Ann Arbor Renters Commission and a U-M alum.