LANSING — City officials are trying to oust an encampment of people who have been living, at least in part, in tents and makeshift shelters on private property for years north of Old Town.
The city’s lawsuit aims to force two property owners – 113 W. Michigan LLC of Jackson and JAJ Property LLC of West Bloomfield Township – to break up the encampment and have their wooded properties cleared of debris and people.
The businesses own industrial buildings and land behind them and the city wants their parcels along the Grand River, near the intersection of West North Street and North Grand River Avenue, to be declared a nuisance.
The lawsuit claims the property owners have allowed the encampment to grow and the property owners should foot the bill for any cleanup efforts, if the city has to clear it.
The city’s lawsuit claims there is no running water, sewer access or any sanitary facility for the people to go to the bathroom. There have been four fires this year that have involved Lansing Fire Department investigators, and police have been called to the site 37 times since the start of 2024, according to the lawsuit. The police issues have involved at least one shooting and four fighting or assault complaints, according to the city.
The city claims about 30 people live there. People at the camp on July 21 estimated dozens stay there.
“The creation of encampments that lack basic sanitation and utility services is far too great of a threat to the public health, welfare and safety to be allowed to continue,” said Scott Bean, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, in a statement. “It also violates city ordinances and state laws.”
The encampment lacks basic sanitation and utilities, has human waste and make-shift structures that could be risky, and the residents of the encampment have banned city outreach teams and social workers from visiting, Bean said.
Bean said there is shelter space available for the encampment residents and the city has recently finished a comprehensive study on homelessness and is working to implement those strategies, including better data sharing, regional partnerships, additional shelters to bridge gaps, and more options for families and populations like LGBTQ+ people and domestic violence survivors.
An Aug. 13 hearing is scheduled before Judge Rosemarie Aquilina in Ingham County Circuit Court.
The State Journal was not able to reach the business property owners identified in the state’s database of business entities – Robert Smith of 113 W. Michigan LLC and Tony Yono of JAJ Properties.
Process servers hired by the city were unable to serve Yono with the lawsuit after at least 12 documented attempts, but Aquilina ruled on July 11 that the city can satisfy the service requirements with additional mailings, postings to Yono’s registered properties and newspaper notifications.
The people caught in the middle – those living in the encampment – said on July 21 that they are providing an alternative to sleeping on the streets and it’s far better to have people sleeping, somewhat secretively, together in the woods than visible in downtown.
The camp is a collection of more than a dozen tents and makeshift shelters, and debris could be seen in Dietrich Park, a small city park near Old Town, and along the public Lansing River Trail that leads to the encampment.
“A lot of people don’t have anywhere to go,” said Tony Vincent, one of the leaders and founders of the camp. “People complain when they see homeless people in the street but then they kick them out of an encampment, it’s a revolving door and it keeps going.”
The encampment also has a handful of firepits, and shipping pallets used as fencing around tents and gardens or to create a floor above the dirt. There’s a pop-up trailer that Vincent is restoring and a few makeshift buildings, like Vincent’s home, built out of cast-off doors used as walls, as well as a propane generator to help power fans and charge phones.
He said the encampment has been growing for around four years but is mostly peaceful and quiet. Vincent said the people who committed the handful of incidents cited in the city’s lawsuit have been ousted from the camp in its own discipline process.
Away from most of the tents is a long pile of trash bags from a recent cleanup effort that stalled when Vincent said the city would not bring a trash bin to haul away the bags. Willie Hayes, another leader at the encampment, said he and Vincent are planning to rent a bin from a private company to clean up the space.
The trash and debris are among the health concerns the city has cited in its lawsuit, along with lack of bathrooms and a fire risk. There are no bathrooms at the city park.
Vincent said he doesn’t believe the lawsuit will succeed, because he and some others have been staying there so long – four years for him – that they may be considered a resident or require eviction hearings, and he believes that the property owners have given permission for the encampment to stay.
Vincent said the encampment welcomes people who aren’t able to stay at other shelters for various reasons like drinking or staying too long. He said he would prefer to stay in a permanent shelter, but has struggled his whole life with getting proper identification, which he has recently secured, and is attempting to find a job but finding it difficult for someone without a permanent address.
He said he wishes the city would offer more services, like connecting people to identification, instead of breaking up encampments.
“It’s a haven for all homeless,” Hayes said, “As you can see, no one here is wanting or needing anything. Our dwellings are a little haggard in places but this is home.”
Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing sues to break up homelessness encampment near city park
Reporting by Mike Ellis, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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