The city of Lansing will not seek to immediately clear an encampment of unhoused community members in Old Town as part of its lawsuit against two landowners where the encampment is set up.
State Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) told WKAR News they met with Mayor Andy Schor on Tuesday and was told the city plans to attend its Aug. 13 court date but would shift the desired outcome away from immediately sweeping the camp.
Instead, Dievendorf said the goal would be to improve conditions in the encampment over the next three months while the city works on establishing a semi-permanent outdoor community on public land.
Schor announced during a town hall Wednesday evening that the city would purchase sleeping pods.
"These are not cheap, but we have figured out a way to do it," Schor said. "We have to maintain it, you have to have security, you have to have running water, you have to have electricity; the city's going to do all of that."
But city spokesperson Scott Bean said the pods likely won't be ready within three months. Instead, he pointed to the City Rescue Mission of Lansing's upcoming expansion as a more immediate option for displaced residents.
There was some confusion about the lawsuit’s future Thursday morning after the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center claimed in a news release that Schor made a verbal commitment to “pause” the lawsuit for three months.
Bean disputed the claim, saying the case would move forward but that the mayor wanted to ensure solutions are part of any legal action.
“This case has not been paused and we’d like to be able to go into court with temporary solutions that the advocates and property owners can implement to improve conditions while advocates have the next three months to help move them into longer term shelter or housing,” Bean said.
But Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center Executive Director Khadja Erickson was adamant that there was not a misunderstanding.
“That’s the wording that I received, and I think my hunch is correct that he was just saying whatever he needed to say to look good at the time, and not once did he discuss with the city attorneys the idea of pausing the lawsuit,” Erickson said.
Dievendorf said the confusion likely stems from the fact that the city has not appeared in court yet.
“I think the clarification that’s needed is that they haven’t been in court yet, so they haven’t stated what the city had for sure been asking for or how the city has shifted on this position,” Dievendorf said.
While meeting with Schor, Dievendorf shared a plan to improve conditions at the encampment until a more permanent space is available.
The plan would address immediate health and safety concerns, like trash pickup, human waste management and access to clean water.
Social workers, the health department and advocacy groups would visit regularly to provide wraparound services.
Dievendorf said Schor came to the table with a plan of his own that was very similar to the one they shared.
“He was more than open to it,” Dievendorf said. “He was already trying to figure out how to do it on his own, based on everything that we have talked about over the last few years.”
Dievendorf was one of more than a dozen people to speak to the Lansing City Council about the lawsuit on Monday.
Advocates at the meeting warned that clearing the encampment would make it more difficult for organizations to get support to the community members being displaced.