AUDIO: 56% of homes in city of Kalamazoo are rentals

Never mind beer and paperboard, Kalamazoo’s biggest industry may be the landlord business as 56% of the homes in the city of Kalamazoo are rentals.

Kalamazoo city commissioners have now approved a resolution, asking state legislators to rescind a law that bans municipal rent control programs.

Kalamazoo has seen rental rates go up 45% on average since COVID-19 struck. That’s 41,000 households in the city alone.

Residents told commissioners that it’s busting their budgets.

Commissioners last night unanimously passed the resolution asking for state lawmakers to approve a bill that has already been proposed.

Commissioner Don Cooney read the resolution.

But not everyone supports it. A resident named Chris argued that rent control hasn’t worked in the cities that have tried it.

So far efforts to address the local affordable housing crisis have focused on the supply side, encouraging new development. This would approach the problem from the demand side.

For now rent control remains outlawed, and it won’t be a quick solution, not if it needs state legislative approval first.