Hey BridgeDetroit readers! 👋🏼
A new report offers a roadmap for how Detroit City Council can address negligent landlords.
In 2022, we took you into the world of tenants in Detroit who were fighting to hold their landlord accountable. At the time, they showed us subpar living conditions.
Renters went to the city council and raised concerns about the crucial repairs they needed and their property manager, Munoz Realty. The company addressed some issues when we reported on the rentals about a year ago.
Since then, Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero sought to get more information about the landlord.
In a report submitted to the council’s Public Health and Safety Standing Committee this month, the Legislative Policy Division (LPD) laid out a set of recommendations for how council members can deal with “rogue” landlords who have several violations. LPD notes that it offers policy options in the report, and is not expressing any opinions.
Here are the main takeaways:
- Investigate: City council can request that the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) provide detailed information about a landlord and their properties, blight tickets and compliance.
- Budget: Because city council must approve the annual city budget, it can understand what kind of resources the administration needs to “deal with a rogue landlord” and include strategies in any future budget proceedings.
- Local Laws: Council can propose and amend ordinances, including the rental property registration ordinance, which requires that properties have a certificate of compliance. Council can also identify gaps in the city’s Right to Counsel ordinance — meant to offer eligible tenants facing eviction free legal aid — for “dealing with recalcitrant landlords with hundreds of violations.”
I spoke with Santiago-Romero this week about the report and next steps. City Council is asking BSEED to investigate Munoz Realty further.
“We acknowledge that we have landlords that are being accused of being slumlords. We see it, we hear the stories,” she said.
Munoz Realty is not alone, she said.
“There are many other landlords that need to be held accountable, so I hope that we get to do some learning from this process,” she said.
Gaston Muñoz, owner of Munoz Realty, did not respond to an email seeking comment. Muñoz’s lawyer, Gary Segatti, in a text message, said Muñoz has 535 houses with certificates of compliance. He cited a University of Michigan Poverty Solutions report from 2022 which found that of 87,000 rental properties in Detroit, about 5,600 had certificates of compliance (the report’s analysis relies on certificates of compliance as of March 15, 2022 from the City of Detroit’s Open Data Portal). Recent data from the portal shows about 9,000 recorded residential certificates of compliance. Segatti questioned why the focus is on his client instead of the “thousands of other landlords.”
BSEED reported that Muñoz has 321 certificates of compliance. The department has issued 1,078 tickets to Muñoz and related LLCs.
He’s not the only landlord that has been fined.
In 2023, BSEED issued 37,542 rental blight violation tickets ($10,680,695 in fines) across the city and 6,002 tickets ($1,284,580 in fines) this year, to date.
“BSEED places high priority on ensuring safe, quality rental housing for Detroiters, bringing landlords into compliance, and keeping city council informed of our efforts. We have continuously and thoroughly answered all questions anytime council has asked,” BSEED Director David Bell said in a statement Friday.
Shout out to our friends at Outlier Media, who first wrote about the report.
Are you a tenant dealing with poor rental conditions? Are you a landlord who wants to discuss the rental housing ecosystem in Detroit. Let’s talk.
📣 On Your Radar
🏠 EVICTION: The City of Detroit’s Office of Eviction Defense is slated to host a public meeting this week about its Right to Counsel program. Residents can ask questions and provide comments. The event will take place Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at the Northwest Activities Center in the DeRoy Ballroom at 18100 Meyers Road. Learn more.
💵 LEAD REMOVAL: A new program from Michigan Saves can cover half of the lead abatement cost for qualifying homeowners and help applicants access loans to cover the other half. Planet Detroit has more.
💰 TAX SEASON: Need help filing your taxes? Households making less than $64,000 a year can get free tax preparation help from the Accounting Aid Society. Make an appointment by visiting the Accounting Aid Society’s website. There are several Detroit locations.
🏡 HIGH COST OF RENT: Nearly half of the renter households in metro Detroit — more than 250,000 — are cost-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. Nearly 140,000 households pay more than half of their income on housing. That’s according to a new report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, analyzing 2022 Census data. Explore the map.
🚰 WATER SHUT OFFS: Since August, less than 1,000 households experienced a water shut off, according to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Customers at risk of shut offs are those with large balances and who are living in Census tracts with medium to high incomes. DWSD has not shut off water for Lifeline Plan customers for nonpayment, a spokesperson told me last week. The program is meant to lower water bills for qualifying Detroiters. Meanwhile, metro Detroit officials are at odds over proposed legislation that Democratic lawmakers say will make water more affordable for households across Michigan. Read more.
We’re guided by community feedback, so if you have thoughts on what this newsletter should look like, stories we should highlight, issues we need to unpack and resources, let us know.
Thanks for reading,
Nushrat Rahman
Economic Mobility Reporter, BridgeDetroit and Detroit Free Press
