Dana Watson: An important issue for Dana Watson is housing, because she believes that East Lansing faces special circumstances when it comes to being a college town. She says that the city of East Lansing has already passed the capacity for student housing. Watson is also a volunteer at the Board of Directors for the Capital Area Housing Partnerships, which often partners with the City of East Lansing on assistance programs in housing.
Chuck Grigsby: He believes that government transparency and cooperation can lead to improvements in the city of East Lansing. He wants to have conversations with the local community about future projects and development plans for the city. He wants to examine economic development and take a look into all current and future projects to make sure they are moving forward appropriately.
Daniel Bollman: He believes that buildings and housing should support greater densities. He wants to adopt a Form-based zoning code that would change how we look at the public facing of buildings. The code would also change how the building supports the community and encourage inclusivity and involvement.
Adam DeLay: He believes that we should change the budget of the police department to add social workers that would help people who are behind on rent. Covid-19 has affected the housing market in a major way and adding these social figures could give people a place to go for help. He also wants to create funding assistance for people who have been let off or fired. This would give people support during these difficult times and allow people to stay away from homelessness.
DeLay on Ordinance 1500: “I STRONGLY support Ordinance 1500. Students deserve fair housing rights. It is absolutely a racket, what the large-scale landlords are doing. Student renters deserve the ability to get into their new place and to have time to see what they want to do for the next year without the landlord breathing down their neck a month after moving in. As an alumni, I've been where many students find themselves every year, when it comes to September and it’s a madhouse and there’s four hundred people outside of the leasing office trying to scramble to figure out where they want to live a full year from now. If elected I will make enacting Ordinance 1500 a priority.”
DeLay on housing costs: “My hope is that, with all the new housing that has gone up over the last few years in terms of rental apartments, that the increased supply will lead to lower costs. That being said, East Lansing tends to only have two kinds of housing: single family homes and large apartments. I would like to see us develop more diverse housing options, such as duplexes and triplexes, so that folks can find more affordable options. I would have loved to have stayed in East Lansing after graduating, but my wife and I couldn't afford it and ended up moving to Lansing and other areas before making our way back here. One last thing I would like to do is introduce down payment assistance grants for potential homebuyers. The down payment is often the biggest hurdle to home ownership, and I would like to offer assistance to residents who would prefer to buy but don't have the up front capital to do so.”
George Brookover: One of the most important issues for George Brookover is to improve infrastructure and fix the zoning rules in East Lansing. Brookover served on the East Lansing housing committee as well as the planning commission. He is “concerned” about the downtown areas in East Lansing and wants to protect them with his plan of “comprehensive planning” rather than what the city does now with what Brookover calls “haphazard planning”.
Ron Bacon: He believes that there are a lot of important infrastructure projects on the horizon for the city of East Lansing and believes that with him in office he would be able to get these projects completed. Those projects include the East Lansing Hannah Community Center, the East Lansing Family Aquatic Center, Fire Department, and the local Library. He also finds the lack of single family housing in the city another priority for him that he would like to expand while in office.