100 East Lansing homeowners in the Brookfield Heritage Neighborhood can now opt out of discriminatory language on their property covenants.
That document explicitly forbids home sales to people of color.
And while it hasn’t been enforced in more than 75 years, new legislation signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer last year allows homeowners to formally reject that language.
Lucas Day reports on government for the online publication, East Lansing Info and spoke with WKAR's Megan Schellong to discuss the implications of disavowing a property covenant like this.
Interview Highlights
On how a homeowner can disavow this language in their property covenant
I know that the Ingham County Register of Deeds has these forms available that people can go pick up. And so my understanding is that you just go, you pick up one of these forms, you fill it out and you point to whatever sections of your housing documents includes the discriminatory language. And then, you know, the form says "We disavow what is written on these pages in these sections."
On why this discriminatory language cannot be removed from a property covenant, just disavowed
These documents, these restrictive covenant languages, these documents are very old, like I believe that they're hand-written. And so, there's no way that you can just throw out old housing documents, the parts of them that you don't like, because, it's essential to the history of the home. And Sarah Anthony’s staffer told me that, you know, it was important that they preserve all the historical parts of the homeownership, it's just that as we progress, as a society, we should be able to look back at our history and point out what was wrong.
On the implications for disavowing racial property covenants
What I want to make really clear is that this isn't something that was specific to East Lansing or Michigan or different parts of the state or the country. This was happening everywhere. And it's not just through restrictive covenant language, it was also through redlining. And this discriminatory language and discriminatory policies really describe or really explain why our neighborhoods are shaped the way that they are.
Interview Transcript
Megan Schellong: 100 East Lansing homeowners in the Brookfield Heritage Neighborhood can now opt out of a discriminatory property covenant.
That document explicitly forbids home sales to people of color.
And while it hasn’t been enforced in more than 75 years, new legislation signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer last year allows homeowners to formally reject that language.
Lucas Day reports on government for the online publication, East Lansing Info and joins us now to discuss the implications of disavowing a property covenant like this.
Lucas, thanks for being here.
Lucas Day: Yeah, absolutely, thanks for having me on, Megan.
Schellong: What was the impetus for getting this bill to move through the legislature to Whitmer’s desk?
Day: So yeah, my understanding is that this is something that they’d been working on for quite some time. They worked with the ACLU, I know. They worked with different homeowners groups, renters groups, all sorts of different associations to get this through. And the way that it was explained to me is just that there should be a way to disavow this, you know, really disgusting language from your housing documents. Your housing documents are something that are important to you. Buying a house is a milestone.
And, you know, you shouldn't have to just look at this disgusting language in a document that you own without a way to say, "We disagree with it." What this form is, is that it's just something that's added to your home's title. You can fill it out, and it points to certain sections of your housing documents, and it just says, "We disagree with this."
Schellong: You spoke with a resident of the Brookfield neighborhood who said previously he and his neighbors tried to have the discriminatory language removed, but it’s, you know, easier said than done. Why has this been difficult in the past?
Day: So, there was never a form that you could fill out like this. Some of the homeowners had filled out affidavits, I think that was like 25 years ago or something like that. They filled out affidavits. But those aren't, you know, formal documents like this, that disavow.
So, this is a totally new system that was created. Previously, there'd been efforts to get rid of that language altogether, but what that would require because this is kind of an impromptu, this is not an official homeowners association, Brookfield, it's a kind of an ad hoc group, they would have needed what 100% of the homeowners to get together and agree to get rid of it.
And that's just not plausible when there's people that are renting their homes. There’s students there. They don't even know who owns some of these homes, is how it was explained to me.
Schellong: How would a homeowner disavow this type of language in their property covenant?
Day: So I haven't actually seen the form, but Sarah Anthony's staffer explained to me that they wanted to make a system that was as simple as possible. I know that the Ingham County Register of Deeds has these forms available that people can go pick up. And so my understanding is that you just go, you pick up one of these forms, you fill it out and you point to whatever sections of your housing documents includes the discriminatory language. And then, you know, the form says "We disavow what is written on these pages in these sections."
Schellong: Gotcha, so what about let’s say if you live somewhere that has a homeowner’s association or condominium board?
Day: So, that might be a little bit you know, simpler for somebody that lives in one of those group living type things, I guess.
I was told that they can disavow that the boards, the board of the homeowners association or the condominium board, they can disavow it without formal approval from the residents. They just need a simple vote from those boards, so it doesn't take 100% of the residents like it would in Brookfield. I also want to mention that the Brookfield residents, they can disavow this language, their specific, you know, home, it's just that because it isn't an official homeowners association, their process might be a little bit different.
Schellong: From what I understand, this discriminatory language cannot be removed from a property covenant, just disavowed. Why is that?
Day: So, these documents, these restrictive covenant languages, these documents are very old, like I believe that they're hand-written. And so there's no way that you can just throw out old housing documents, the parts of them that you don't like, because, it's essential to the history of the home. And Sarah Anthony’s staffer told me that, you know, it was important that they preserve all the historical parts of the homeownership, it's just that as we progress, as a society, we should be able to look back at our history and point out what was wrong.
Schellong: What are the implications of disavowing discriminatory language from these documents?
Day: So, one of the things that Sarah Anthony's staffer, Remy Gelderloos, told me is that they wanted this to be an educational piece. And I think that's, I think that's great.
I remember a couple of years ago, there were new stories popping up in Texas. And there are homeowners being read off pieces of their housing documents, they had no idea that this language existed, I'm sure it's the same for some people in Brookfield. People don't understand this existed.
And what I want to make really clear is that this isn't something that was specific to East Lansing or Michigan or different parts of the state or the country. This was happening everywhere. And it's not just through restrictive covenant language, it was also through redlining. And this discriminatory language and discriminatory policies really describe or really explain why our neighborhoods are shaped the way that they are.
Schellong: Lucas Day reports on government for East Lansing Info. He joined us here to discuss how East Lansing homeowners in the Brookfield Heritage Neighborhood can now opt out of a discriminatory property covenant and the implications it. Lucas, thanks.
Day: Definitely, thanks for having me on, Megan.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.