Title
Resolution to Recommend Discussion of Right to Renew to City Council
Staff
Approved by: Ann Arbor Renters Commission
Body
Whereas, According to R-21-362, the Ann Arbor Renters Commission was created to "[p]ropose, evaluate, recommend, and respond to policies, practices, or laws that affect renters in the City, including, but not limited to: housing affordability, transportation access, land use, public health and safety, and economic development;"
Whereas, The Renters Commission should strive to represent "perspectives in the City, such as student, youth, low-income, LGBTQ, immigrant, persons with criminal records, persons receiving rental subsidies, cooperative or group housing, tenant advocacy groups, persons who have experienced homelessness, or historically underrepresented groups;"
Whereas, Evictions are currently rising (1) in the wake of the termination of the national eviction moratorium; (2)
Whereas, In the United States, 17% of LGBTQ+ people experience homelessness at some point in their lives. This is more than twice the rate found in the general populace. This number is significantly higher for transgender people.; (3)
Whereas, According to a 2020 paper by Hepburn et al., which accessed millions of recorded court eviction cases between 2012 and 2016 in 39 states, "[b]lack renters received a disproportionate share of eviction filings and experienced the highest rates of eviction filing and eviction judgment;" (4)
Whereas, in the City of Ann Arbor, tenants are not guaranteed the opportunity to renew their current lease unless expressly stated in their leasing contract. The result of this is instability in the lives of many of our city's tenants;
Whereas, A coalition of local organizations including the Graduate Employees' Organization, The Lecturers' Employee Organization, the House Officers Association of the University of Michigan, the Ann Arbor Tenants Union, the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, the Huron Valley Area Labor Federation AF...
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