On the Home Front

The Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness (MCAH) is honored with the 2025 NLIHC Statewide Organizing Award in recognition of its successful campaign to secure source-of-income (SOI) protections in Michigan in 2024.  

“This advocacy win was truly a years-long sustained effort by our coalition and partners,” reflected Lisa Chapman, MCAH’s director of public policy. MCAH, an NLIHC state partner, began its statewide organizing around SOI and other tenant protections in 2018. “This legislation has been introduced in the last three legislative sessions, going back to its first introduction in 2019 by Reps. Wittenberg and Rabhi,” said Eric Hufnagel, CEO of MCAH. “This demonstrates the persistence and tenacity of advocates and legislators to see this important work come to fruition.”  

In 2020, MCAH brought together a coalition of over 120 advocates including people with lived experience, homeless service agencies, legal aid providers, and other nonprofit organizations to form the Coalition for Expanding Access, which organized to pass these protections into law. The 2023-24 legislative session presented a historic opportunity for increased momentum. With a rare Democratic “trifecta,” the party had majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship. Over 100 housing and tenant protection-related bills were introduced during the session – including a package of five SOI bills – which demonstrated Michiganders’ demand to address the housing crisis and legislators’ eagerness to pursue solutions. However, the “trifecta” environment also presented obstacles, as other important policy priorities such as gun safety, reproductive rights, and infrastructure all competed for visibility. By the summer, many of the 100+ housing bills had made progress in the legislature, but none had passed both chambers.  

To raise the profile of housing issues, MCAH co-founded the Housing Homestretch campaign with the Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition, which represents tenant unions across Michigan. The campaign rallied housing and homeless service providers, tenant unions, and grassroots organizers across the state around nine priority bills with the greatest positive impact for renters and the best chances of passing in the remainder of the session. The campaign’s priorities included the five SOI bills: Senate Bills 205, 206, and 207, and House Bills 4062 and 4063.  All were “tie-barred” to each other, meaning that none could be enacted into law without the others.  

Together, the bills prohibit landlords of five or more rental units, and others engaging in real estate transactions, from denying occupancy to current or prospective tenants using a housing voucher or other forms of assistance including SSI/SSDI, veteran benefits, disability, retirement, child support, and alimony. The House bills make SOI discrimination a civil rights violation and provide for legal recourse.  

The Campaign circulated a coalition letter signed by 93 individuals and 77 organizations, wrote letters to legislators and the Governor, hosted bimonthly campaign calls, and met both in-person and virtually with legislators and their staff. The coalition employed media content explaining the need for SOI and combatting the opposition narrative, which reiterated negative and untrue stereotypes of voucher holders as less responsible. The Housing Homestretch culminated with a November 2024 rally in Lansing. With 230 attendees, the rally marked the largest gathering of tenants in Michigan since the 1980s.  

Tenant organizers with the Rent is Too Damn High coalition organized the logistics of the November rally and conducted extensive outreach and phonebanking to ensure a high turnout of renters. At the rally, people with lived experience spoke about each of the nine endorsed bills and how the legislation would help to alleviate their own housing challenges. The day ended with a march into the state capitol’s rotunda where attendees placed sticky notes on the doors of House and Senate leaders, describing the reasons why they advocate for tenant rights.  

Throughout the campaign, the leadership and perspectives of people with lived experience of homelessness, housing insecurity, and renting challenges were critical to implementing the campaign’s organizing tactics, creating public communications, and conducting outreach to legislators. The Housing Homestretch Campaign compensated people with lived experience for the time participating in the coalition meetings, speaking at the rally and to the media, and arranging transportation to the rally. 

The SOI package cleared all legislative hurdles and passed the legislature on December 11, then went to Governor Whitmer’s desk, where they were signed into law later that month. “We are extremely grateful to our legislative champions for sponsoring this important protection for renters and extend our deep appreciation to the superb work of our housing advocates and colleagues on these bills,” said Chapman. “When enacted, this legislation will expand housing opportunities for the many families and individuals that receive income supports. Vouchers and other forms of rental assistance/income support can be a lifeline for Michiganders who are struggling to get back on their feet.”  

Housing Choice Voucher holders in Michigan typically have a 25% success rate in leasing a unit with their voucher. The new laws will allow low-income renters and people exiting homelessness greater choice, facilitate success in the housing search process, and make it much easier for those facing housing instability to get back on their feet.  

NLIHC applauds the work of MCAH, the Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition, and their partners as they continue the Housing Homestretch Campaign to fight for more tenant protections and resources to ensure all Michiganders, regardless of income, have a place to call home. MCAH will officially be honored as the 2025 Statewide Organizing Award Winner on Wednesday, March 26, during NLIHC’s annual Housing Policy Forum, where Lisa Chapman from MCAH will participate in a plenary panel. NLIHC’s annual Organizing Awards recognize outstanding achievements in statewide, regional, citywide, neighborhood, or resident organizing that further NLIHC’s mission of ensuring that people with the lowest incomes have quality homes that are accessible and affordable in communities of their choice.  

Join NLIHC in congratulating MCAH on its major organizing victories!  

To learn more about MCAH and its ongoing work, please visit: https://www.mihomeless.org/