MI Rent Is Too Damn High was born in 2023, to take advantage of an unprecedented opportunity for change at the state government. Michigan Democrats had recently gained full governing power over the state government for the first time in a generation, opening the window (at least we thought) for legislation in favor of the working class. 

A group of Lansing-based tenants decided to take full advantage of this opportunity. We called on the legislature and governor to enact a pro-renter agenda by repealing the statewide ban on rent control, implementing a tenants’ bill of rights, building social housing, and enacting housing first programs. 

We began meeting in February 2023, and that September, we hosted the first Rent Is Too Damn High demonstration at the Michigan State Capitol. With over 350 people in attendance, this was the largest gathering of organized renters in the state of Michigan since the 1980s. 

The demonstration brought together tenants from all over the state from Detroit to Grand Rapids, Jackson to Marquette, and dozens of cities and towns in between. It became obvious to all of us that the rent is an issue that unites people, from urban, rural and suburban parts of the state, and from all different racial and ethnic backgrounds. You already know what’s up: The Rent Is Too Damn High! If you’re not struggling with it personally, you know a friend or a family member who is.

Following the success of this demonstration, new friends and allies continued talking, and we decided to make MI Rent Is Too Damn High an ongoing coalition fighting for tenants rights across our state. The coalition hosted multiple demonstrations and lobby days over the course of the 2023-2024 legislative session in Lansing. We picketed the largest housing industry conference of the year, and we were a steady presence at the legislature’s housing committees. 

Thanks to our efforts, over 60 tenants’ rights bills were introduced into the state legislature, and we learned which elected officials were ready to fight for us. We fought for these bills all the way through the final day of the 2024 lame duck session, via the “Housing Homestretch” campaign. The legislature did pass one significant renter’s rights bill: a law banning landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income. 

Despite the victory on source of income protection, the major aftertaste from this legislature was frustration. Governor Whitmer, House and Senate leadership showed no desire to spend any political capital for tenants, and as a result, many life-changing tenant protection bills were left on the table.

By the end of the 2024 legislature, it was clearer than ever that landlords are organized and powerful throughout the ranks of the political elite, both Democrat and Republican. They’ve had 30+ years to sow their influence without much organized pushback from Michigan tenants.

The answer, for 2025 and 2026, is for all of us to deepen our local tenant organizing wherever we live. We need to be more numerous, more organized, and even more focused. We need to form tenant associations at the building level, and tenant unions at the city-wide and regional levels. We must become a thorn in the side of unscrupulous landlords and their political allies. And we need to equip more tenants to run for local office and win.

In a time of political upheaval and uncertainty, especially at the federal level, predicting the future is a fool’s errand. But we can be certain that no matter what happens, landlords will keep trying to exploit tenants by raising the rent, and ignoring necessary repairs. Tenants will need a union to fight back against specific abuses, to sanction bad landlords at the local and state level, and ultimately to win good, secure, truly affordable housing for all.

MI Rent Is Too Damn High is a network of dozens of tenant unions, housing service providers, and allied organizations from across the state. Since late 2023, We The People Michigan and Detroit Action have served as anchors for the coalition by providing resources and staff time to support the work.