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Federal Housing Dollars in Lansing: The Network Around the LHC

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 26, 202631 min

Roughly $200 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits flow through LHC's Lansing-area development pipeline, plus federal voucher subsidies for 2,252 households. The pipeline moves through a small cluster of nonprofit, private, and law-firm entities and a recurring set of individuals who hold multiple roles across them. LHC Board Chair Emma Henry earns $123,787 a year as Executive Director of Capital Area Housing Partnership, the nonprofit named as partner on LHC LIHTC deals her board approves. Commissioner Ashlee Barker is paid Vice President at Cinnaire, the financial institution the LHC executive director identified as the standing purchaser of LHC's tax credits. The 2024 LHC board minutes record one Henry abstention out of fifteen-plus substantive resolutions, and zero Barker recusals across eight 2024 board meetings.

GovernmentHousing

Public Housing Commission Conflict-of-Interest Standards

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 26, 2026

Federal and Michigan rules that govern conflicts of interest on a public housing commission cluster around four authorities: HUD's mixed-finance development standard at 24 CFR §905.604, the federal-award procurement standard at 2 CFR §200.318(c), Michigan's public officer conflict statute at MCL 15.321 et seq., and the Lansing Housing Commission's own bylaws. Each rule names a specific prohibited conduct, a required disclosure or recusal, and a specific body authorized to act when conditions covered by the rule appear in the public record. HUD's Office of Public Housing Investments (working through the HUD Detroit Field Office for Michigan) and the Michigan Attorney General's Public Integrity Unit hold the federal and state authority respectively.

HousingGovernment

What Is the Lansing Housing Commission?

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 26, 2026

The Lansing Housing Commission is the City of Lansing's public housing authority, chartered in 1964 under MCL 125.651 and governed by a five-member volunteer board appointed by the Mayor. As of 2025 LHC operates 66 public-housing units (down from 833 in 2020), administers 2,252 federal Section 8 vouchers and 253 project-based vouchers, and acts as development partner on a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit pipeline of more than $200 million in active project cost. Three of the people sitting in LHC's governance hold paid positions at organizations that earn fees from LHC's deals: Board Chair Emma Henry at Capital Area Housing Partnership ($123,787/year per its FY2025 IRS Form 990), Commissioner Ashlee Barker at Cinnaire (the standing purchaser of LHC's tax credits), and Executive Director Doug Fleming as agent of the General Partner LLCs collecting developer fees on LHC LIHTC partnerships.

MoneyHousing

LHC Executive Director's Five LLCs

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 26, 2026

The Lansing Housing Commission's executive director, Doug Fleming, is the registered agent and organizing member of at least five private Michigan business entities, four of them registered at the LHC office at 419 Cherry Street. Two are general-partner LLCs — Oliver Gardens GP, LLC and 220 Kalamazoo GP, LLC — that collect developer fees on Low-Income Housing Tax Credit partnerships in which LHC is the limited partner. On August 22, 2025, in a single LARA filing, Fleming signed the formation documents for Oliver Gardens II LDHA LP twice: once on behalf of Oliver Gardens GP, LLC (which he had organized one day earlier) and once on behalf of LHC. The partnership received $1,479,466 in federal LIHTC in October 2025.

GovernmentSurveillance

Lansing City Operations Committee, April 23

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 25, 2026

The Lansing Committee on City Operations met for 32 minutes on April 23, 2026 with all three members present. The committee passed a Compost Awareness Week 2026 resolution 3-0, placed a downtown liquor-license transfer notice on file 3-0, and received a verbal-only briefing from Chief Robert Backus on the Lansing Police Department's Flock Safety camera program that produced no motion, no referral, and no follow-up.

HousingMoney

From Public Housing to Wall Street Mortgages: The Lansing Scattered-Site Sale

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 25, 2026

In April 2023, the Lansing Housing Commission completed the sale of 202 scattered-site public-housing homes to a Michigan LLC formed thirteen months earlier, for $14.62 million across four closings. The buyer was renamed from SK Investments Group LLC to Red Michigan Holdings LLC eight months before the first closing, breaking name-based searches. Within nine months, $8.73 million in mortgages were assigned through Goldman Sachs to U.S. Bank Trust as trustee of Legacy Mortgage Asset Trust 2024.

Housing

Lansing's Public Housing: From 833 Units to 66

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 25, 2026

Between 2020 and 2024, the Lansing Housing Commission's public-housing portfolio collapsed from 833 units to 66, a 92 percent reduction. 202 of those former public-housing homes were sold to a single Michigan LLC for $14.62 million across four closings between April 2023 and February 2025. The buyer's name was changed from "SK Investments Group LLC" to "Red Michigan Holdings LLC" eight months before the first closing, breaking name-based searches. Of about 40 interested tenants, 8 qualified.

SurveillanceGovernment

Lansing's First Flock Briefing

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 25, 2026

On April 23, 2026, Lansing Chief Robert Backus gave the city's first sustained public description of LPD's Flock surveillance program, in a 32-minute committee discussion with no written materials. The chief disclosed 52 personnel with platform access, 391 vehicles or vehicle parts recovered with 97 arrests, and six "not concealed" intersections. The minutes record two contradictions: no data-sharing MOUs but MOUs for emergency help, and a 90-day written retention policy versus 30-day practice.

Housing

Five Patterns Inside Lansing's Housing Crisis

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 24, 2026

Five patterns repeat across Lansing's rental market: code-violation fines below one month's rent, eviction filings used as routine business activity, mass eviction immediately preceding a profitable sale, holding-company fragmentation hiding operator-scale portfolios behind small LLCs, and code enforcement that stops at every municipal line. Three Lansing-area registered agents account for at least 488 rental parcels across 84 LLCs, and one landlord with 18 code cases has not lost a license.

Surveillance

What the Evidence and the Record Show About Flock's Cameras

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 23, 2026

The peer-reviewed evidence on whether automatic license-plate-reader networks reduce crime is mixed at best, with the strongest study designs in Mesa, Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Baton Rouge finding no significant reduction. The 2024-2026 Flock record includes wrongful detentions, officer stalking, federal-agency access without local authorization, a California class action alleging 1.6 million federal searches, live-feed exposure of 60 cameras, and stolen credentials on stealer-log markets.

HousingGovernment

Lansing's Homeowner Permit Rule for Tagged Structures

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 22, 2026

On January 9, 2026, the Lansing Building Safety Office issued a two-page administrative policy barring homeowners from pulling repair permits on red-tagged property until a licensed contractor removes the tag. The City Council never voted on it, the policy is not posted on the city's Building Safety or Permits pages, and Code Compliance did not provide a written copy to Council Member Spadafore through at least the April 16, 2026 Public Safety Committee meeting. Detroit allows homeowner repairs.

Surveillance

Why Does Lansing Need Flock?

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 22, 2026

The Lansing Police Department operates approximately 20 Flock Safety automatic license-plate-reader cameras under a program never voted on by the City Council and never substantively reviewed by the Board of Police Commissioners. The program's existence and September 2025 deployment were first identified through a public-records release by the Pittsboro, NC Police Department. The Committee on City Operations took it up for the first time on April 23, 2026 with no contract, policy, or audit.

SurveillanceMoney

Who Owns and Funds the Cameras Watching Lansing

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 22, 2026

The "Flock Grant system" named on the Lansing Committee on City Operations agenda is not a charitable program. It is a service Flock Safety itself operates, in partnership with Lexipol's GrantFinder platform, that identifies federal and private grants municipalities can spend on Flock subscription fees. Flock Safety is a privately held, venture-capital-backed Atlanta company most recently valued at $7.5 billion, with Andreessen Horowitz leading a $275 million Series F in March 2025.

Government

Lansing City Council Meeting: April 20, 2026

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 22, 2026

On April 20, the Lansing City Council referred a 182-day data center moratorium to the Committee on Development and Planning, voted 6-1 to place the sale of the Lansing Shuffle building on the August 4 ballot over the Park Board's no-recommend, and unanimously passed a four-ordinance liquor-store zoning package. Six of the seven residents who spoke on the Shuffle item opposed putting it on the ballot.

GovernmentHousing

The Shuffle Lease Does Not Oblige the City to Sell

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 22, 2026

At the April 20, 2026 Committee of the Whole, Lansing City Attorney Greg Venker confirmed on the record that paragraph (f) of the 2020 Lansing Shuffle lease does not obligate the City Council to sell the building. Council Member Ryan Kost read aloud the lease provision that "initiation of such proceedings by the City is not a promise or covenant that sale of the Building and Premises will result," and Venker confirmed: "Correct, that a prior council had bound them to."

Government

Lansing City Council Meeting: April 6, 2026

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 8, 2026

Deep Green Technologies withdrew its data center proposal before the Lansing City Council could vote on it. At the April 6 meeting, the mayor confirmed the withdrawal, Council Member Nevarez Martinez read the no-vote statement she would have delivered and announced a draft ordinance prohibiting data centers in commercial and downtown commercial districts, and every public speaker who addressed the project opposed it. Speakers credited Kost, Hussain, and Nevarez Martinez as the firm no votes.

Energy

Lansing's Deep Green Due Diligence Gap

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 8, 2026

Deep Green's flagship 1.1 MW UK facility experienced three cooling-related outages totaling roughly 11 hours of downtime between July and October 2025, all on customer Civo's public status page. Civo subsequently removed the Deep Green-hosted London region from its product documentation, and Deep Green deleted the "heat reuse" claim from the facility's webpage. None of this surfaced during five months of Lansing public hearings, two Planning Commission votes, or a 604-page Council packet.

EnergyGovernment

BWL's Hot Water Conversion and Deep Green's Free Heat

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 6, 2026

Deep Green's central public promise to Lansing is free waste heat for BWL's downtown heating system, but that hot water system does not exist yet, the conversion takes 15 years to build, the waste heat would cover roughly 12 percent of current capacity, and retrofit work inside every connected building has undisclosed cost and scope. The BWL-Bloom service contract over the 20-year term is under NDA. Bloom's 18 MW Delaware installation was decommissioned after roughly seven years.

EnergyGovernment

The Document the Council Is Voting On: Deep Green's Buy-Sell Agreement

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 6, 2026

The buy-sell agreement between the City of Lansing and Deep Green Technologies USA LLC is 14 pages long. The first 11 contain the agreement text and signatures. The last three, Exhibit A (legal description), Exhibit B (covenant deed), and Exhibit C (memorandum of development agreement), are blank. Those three blank pages are the documents that would contain the binding, recordable commitments that run with the land and bind future owners.

Housing

Lansing's Housing Crisis: Homeowners

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 5, 2026

Lansing has the highest property tax rate in Ingham County at 62.6 mills, 12 to 24 percent higher than any surrounding jurisdiction. Homes that sold for under $50,000 are assessed at 188 percent of their sale-price-based value, nearly twice what Michigan's statutory formula allows, while homes over $200,000 are assessed at 91 percent. 40 percent of Lansing homeowners do not earn enough to cover housing and basic needs, and the median sale price rose 37 percent in five years.

EnergyGovernment

Twenty-Three Unanswered Questions About Deep Green

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 4, 2026

As of April 4, 2026, four days before the Lansing City Council's scheduled votes on the Deep Green land sale and rezoning, twenty-three specific questions about the project remained unanswered in the public record. The list spans contracts (fuel cell electricity price, the 20-year PPA, the Bloom service contract), money (federal ITC ownership, TIFA capture, BWL costs), technology (fuel cell lifespan, hazardous waste, cooling), and governance (NDA authorization, environmental and noise studies).

Energy

Fact-Checking Deep Green's Emissions Blog Post

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 2, 2026

On April 2, 2026, Deep Green Technologies published a blog post titled "Analysis: Deep Green Data Centre project confirmed to reduce overall Lansing emissions," citing a March 1 BWL response to City Council as the source for an emissions-comparison table. No such March 1 BWL response exists in the public record, the table omits CO2 entirely, and the comparison conceals that the fuel cells run on natural gas.

Housing

Lansing's Housing Crisis: By the Tract

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

Lansing's 17 lowest-income census tracts, each with median household income under $50,000, are 52.5 percent nonwhite on average with a 51.7 percent hardship rate, and 15 of 17 are classified as food-apartheid areas. The five highest-income tracts are 28 percent nonwhite with a 26.6 percent hardship rate. The single D-grade redlined tract from the federal HOLC's 1935 Lansing map today has a median income of $41,495, a 56.6 percent nonwhite population, and a 66.7 percent hardship rate.

Government

Fact-Checking the Mayor's Deep Green Letter

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

On April 1, Mayor Andy Schor published a letter asking residents to support the Deep Green data center "based on true information rather than misinformation." The letter cites Accelerator for America as an independent endorsement without disclosing that Schor has been on AFA's Advisory Council since 2019 or that AFA's infrastructure program is funded by Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, a Google-backed firm building its own Michigan data center. It also repeats Bloom's false toxics claim.

EnergyGovernment

"Under Duress": Why Is Deep Green Revenue in the City Budget?

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

On March 23, at the same Lansing City Council meeting where the Deep Green public hearing took place, Mayor Andy Schor introduced a supplemental budget tying $1 million in firefighter equipment, housing rehab, facade grants, and neighborhood grants to the project's approval. One week later, his Chief Strategy Officer formalized the linkage in the FY27 budget presentation with a dedicated Deep Green slide. Council Member Ryan Kost called it a pressure tactic; Council VP Pehlivanoglu objected.

Housing

Lansing's Housing Crisis: Wages Fall Short

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

Lansing's two largest low-wage occupation groups, food service and personal care, pay $16.73 to $17.16 per hour at median, while a single adult needs $21.74 per hour to cover housing and basic needs. Roughly 65,000 metro-area workers, nearly a third of local employment, work in occupations whose median wages do not clear the threshold for any household with children. 22,000 Ingham County households held medical debt in collections until the county spent $250,000 to erase it in 2024.

Housing

Lansing's Housing Crisis: Renters

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

70 percent of Lansing renter households do not earn enough to cover housing and basic needs using a residual-income measure that counts food, transportation, medical, childcare, and utilities. Single-parent renter families with two or three children fall below the threshold at 95 to 97 percent. Lansing rents have risen 25.3 percent since January 2022, faster than any other Michigan metro, and the federal 30 percent cost-burden standard undercounts Lansing renter stress by 18 points.

Government

Deep Green: How Would You Vote?

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

Across every category of promise made for the Deep Green data center, the public record either contradicts the promise or shows that the document that would make it enforceable has not been disclosed. The $900,000 in property tax revenue does not reach the city's general fund. The $1 million from BWL power sales is built on a contract under NDA. The $400,000 fire department allocation is a contingent budget line, not an appropriation. The buy-sell agreement contains three blank exhibits.

Energy

Deep Green's Parent Company Has Negative £435 Million in Net Assets

Rhinoceros NewsroomApr 1, 2026

Deep Green has 1.13 megawatts of operational data center capacity across two UK sites and was being asked to build 24 megawatts in Lansing, a 22-fold scale-up. The company is controlled by Octopus Energy Group, which holds 4 of 7 board seats and majority voting rights. Octopus is the UK's largest household energy supplier, and as of 2024 it failed Ofgem's capital adequacy with negative £435 million in adjusted net assets. Its listed renewables fund ORIT trades 43.5 percent below IPO.

Money

428 W Lenawee St Is a Hub for Dark Money Activity

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 31, 2026

At least 17 active 501(c)(4) nonprofits operate from a single Lansing address, 428 W Lenawee St, all incorporated by attorney Reid Felsing, who Governor Whitmer appointed to the Eaton County 56A District Court bench in December 2024. At least $698,000 from unions, regulated utilities, and corporate PACs has flowed into the network. Three of the entities filed IRS 990s; all three reported zero political activity. Most file no public return at all.

Government

Lansing: Fact-Checking the March 23 City Council Meeting

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 26, 2026

At the March 23 Lansing City Council public hearing, Deep Green CTO Matt Craggs claimed the project would generate "nearly $900,000 a year in annual local property tax revenue, which supports local public services like roads, public safety, schools, libraries and more." Roughly half is captured by the Downtown TIFA before reaching those services. Schor's $400,000 fire department allocation is contingent, not appropriated. Blackshire's no-toxic-chemicals claim contradicts EPA enforcement.

Energy

Bloom Energy Has a Pattern of Downplaying Toxic Waste

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 26, 2026

Bloom Energy VP Marisa Blackshire told the Lansing City Council in writing on March 22 and in person on March 23 that the company's fuel cells "do not contain, require the storage of, or generate any toxic chemicals." The EPA classifies Bloom as a Large Quantity Generator of hazardous waste, fined the company $1.16 million in 2020 for 258 unmanifested benzene shipments, and Bloom settled a 2016 federal lawsuit from a contractor who found benzene in canisters Bloom labeled non-hazardous.

Government

Socrates Is Not a Cat: A Citizen's Guide to Logical Fallacies

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 26, 2026

Officials selling the Deep Green data center deployed at least 19 distinct logical fallacies in public meetings, press releases, and budget presentations, all in the public record. Examples include false dilemmas (approve the project or the fire department loses hazmat funding), borrowed credibility (a union director introducing himself as a 20-year resident), and cherry-picked baselines (a 50 percent emissions reduction calculated against the dirtiest source on the regional grid).

GovernmentMoney

Lansing: The Garza Conflict, Spelled Out

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 26, 2026

Lansing Council Member Jeremy Garza earns $126,742 per year from the Michigan Pipe Trades Association as Political Lead, on top of his $552 Local 333 VP compensation and $28,147 council salary. He has voted yea on every development item across 52 council meetings without a single recusal, including the public hearing for an ordinance adding union-standard qualifications to the city's bidding code. The Charter and Conflicts of Interest Act bar votes where an officer has a financial interest.

EnergyMoney

How Consumers Energy's $43 Million Dark Money Operation Reaches Lansing City Hall

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 25, 2026

Between 2014 and 2017, Consumers Energy funneled $43.5 million into a single anonymous nonprofit, Citizens for Energizing Michigan's Economy. In 2022, CEME gave $200,000 to Citizens for a Better Michigan, a 501(c)(4) registered at 428 W Lenawee St in Lansing whose president at the time was Reid Felsing, an attorney who incorporated at least 17 anonymous political nonprofits at that address before Governor Whitmer appointed him to the Eaton County district-court bench in December 2024.

GovernmentEnergy

Lansing: A Conflict Question Could Reshape the Deep Green Land Sale Vote

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 24, 2026

The Lansing City Charter requires six of eight votes to sell city property and bars members from voting where they hold a financial interest "other than as a citizen of the City." Council Member Jeremy Garza is VP of UA Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 333 and earns $126,742 per year as Political Lead for the Michigan Pipe Trades Association, the body coordinating unions benefiting from Deep Green's union-labor commitment. Loss of Garza's vote would drop the maximum to five, one short of passage.

Government

Lansing Council: Donor Cheat Sheet

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 24, 2026

The Lansing Regional Chamber PAC and the UA Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 333 PAC together gave $134,750 to seven of the eight sitting Lansing City Council members. Council Member Jeremy Garza alone received $75,500, including a $74,500 lifetime total from Local 333, which is the largest single expenditure in that PAC's 28-year filing history. Only Council Member Ryan Kost received $0 from either organization.

MoneyEnergy

Can Michigan Communities Trust the Data Center Coalition's "Independent" Information?

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 21, 2026

Several Michigan for Responsible Data Centers coalition members fund the campaigns of officials who vote on data center approvals through nonprofit intermediaries that do not disclose donors. In FY2022, coalition member Operating Engineers Local 324 granted $250,000 to Road to Michigan's Future, a 501(c)(4) whose officers are former Lt. Gov. John Cherry and former state rep Robert Emerson. RTMF then sent $5.5 million to Put Michigan First, the Super PAC backing Whitmer's reelection.

MoneyEnergy

Michigan's New Data Center "Information" Coalition Has the Hallmarks of an Astroturf Campaign

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 20, 2026

Michigan for Responsible Data Centers, a 17-member coalition that launched March 19, 2026 promising "clear, accurate information about data centers," has its website managed by Andie Poole of Bellwether Public Relations, the firm that represents Deep Green. The cited Anderson Economic Group analysis was paid for by Consumers Energy, itself a coalition member, and Anderson is also a Bellwether client. The companion University of Michigan guidebook was reviewed by Consumers and DTE employees.

GovernmentEnergy

Lansing: Is the Council Being Set Up to Vote on Deep Green Blind? The Public Record Says Yes.

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 16, 2026

As the Lansing City Council approached its votes on the Deep Green land sale and rezoning, the public record showed the power purchase agreement, Bloom service contract, fuel cell transfer terms, hazardous waste provisions, environmental impact study, noise study, and fiscal impact analysis had not been disclosed. The mayor told council on February 9 that the project's property taxes "will go right into our general fund" and was corrected on camera by his own staff two minutes later.

EnergyGovernment

Lansing: Deep Green's Projected $933K in Tax Revenue Does Not Reach the General Fund

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 15, 2026

The Lansing Economic Area Partnership projected $933,081 in average annual property tax revenue from the proposed Deep Green data center, the figure repeated as the project's signature public benefit. Under Michigan's TIFA Act, roughly $453,000 would be captured by the Downtown TIFA before reaching any general fund, with the city's share almost entirely diverted to debt on the Lansing Center and Jackson Field. Schor told council the taxes go to the general fund, then was corrected on camera.

EnergyGovernment

Lansing: Public Utility, Private Contract: The Deep Green Fuel Cell Deal

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 15, 2026

Under the proposed Deep Green arrangement, Deep Green would purchase the 16 MW fuel cell plant, transfer ownership to BWL, and BWL would contract Bloom to operate it. The 20-year power purchase agreement, the Bloom service contract, and the fuel cell transfer terms are all withheld under an NDA BWL GM Dick Peffley signed with no documented Board authorization. Bloom's Delaware fuel cells lasted roughly seven years against a 15-to-21-year expected lifespan; the proposed contract is twenty.

MoneyGovernment

Lansing: How Organic Is the Support for Deep Green?

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 14, 2026

Seven of the 12 template letters supporting the Deep Green data center, all generated through The Soft Edge platform and submitted to the City Council, came from senders with documented Lansing Regional Chamber ties: members, a 2026 Community Service Award recipient, a 2025 Policy Committee member, the Local 333 Business Manager quoted in the Chamber's February 10 release, and the Chamber's own SVP of Public Affairs. The Chamber published four supporting press releases without disclosure.

Money

Lansing: The Chamber Funds Campaigns, Runs Advocacy, and Reports $0 in Political Spending

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 14, 2026

The Lansing Regional Chamber's 2024 IRS Form 990 reports $0 in political campaign activity. The same organization operates LRC-PAC, which has contributed $30,750 to six of eight sitting council members, links from its homepage to the platform that generated 12 template letters supporting Deep Green, and lists "Increase LRCC PAC donors by 10%" as a 2025 Strategic Plan goal. The 990 also reports $311,344 in "Other fees for services," 15.2 percent of total expenses, with no vendor names.

GovernmentEnergy

BWL's Steam Conversion Was on the Park Board Agenda. It Wasn't in the Minutes.

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 13, 2026

The Lansing Park Board's December 10, 2025 agenda listed five Old Business items, including "BWL Wentworth Park Steam Conversion" tied to BWL's $100 million steam-to-hot-water project on the same corridor as Deep Green. The minutes listed three. Two items were missing, and the remaining items were relabeled to close the gap rather than marked tabled. The November 12, 2025 meeting where the BWL item was first introduced has zero documents in CivicClerk: no agenda, no minutes, no attachments.

HousingMoney

Who Owns Lansing? 24 Entities Control 946 Rental Parcels

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 13, 2026

Of Lansing's 42,175 tax parcels, 29.2 percent of residential parcels are non-owner-occupied and 10.4 percent of those rental-proxy parcels are owned by someone in another state. Twenty-four mega-landlords with 20 or more parcels each control 946 parcels (8.3 percent of all rental-proxy housing). The largest single residential landlord is SK Lansing LDHA, a Southfield entity holding 209 parcels acquired from the Lansing Housing Commission. California leads at 308, Florida 193, Texas 67.

Housing

Lansing Is Now Michigan's Fastest-Rising Rental Market

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 13, 2026

Four independent data sources, Zillow, HUD, the Census ACS, and Realtor.com, confirm Lansing's rents are rising faster than any other metro in Michigan. Zillow's Observed Rent Index shows Lansing rents up 25.3 percent since January 2022, ahead of Grand Rapids (21.1 percent), Ann Arbor (19.2 percent), and Detroit (16.9 percent). HUD's Fair Market Rents recorded a 12.5 percent single-year jump in Ingham County's two-bedroom rate, and three Lansing ZIP codes show double-digit annual increases.

Energy

Lansing: Did BWL's Board Know About Deep Green When It Approved a $100M Steam Conversion?

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 13, 2026

On September 9, 2025, BWL's Board received a 26-slide Ever-Green Energy presentation on a $100 million steam-to-hot-water conversion that did not mention Deep Green, data centers, waste heat, or fuel cells. BWL GM Dick Peffley had been negotiating with Deep Green for roughly five months. The conversion creates a heat-source gap after the REO plant shuts down that Deep Green's fuel cell waste heat would fill, and Ever-Green designed the conversion and validated Deep Green's projections.

Energy

Lansing: The Company Behind Deep Green's Fuel Cells Has Been Fined, Sued, and Subsidized in Three States

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 13, 2026

Bloom Energy, contracted to operate the proposed Deep Green data center's 16 MW of fuel cells, received more than $580 million in public subsidies in Delaware, was fined $1.37 million by the EPA for hazardous waste violations, delivered fewer than 800 of 1,500 promised jobs, and had 18 MW of fuel cells decommissioned after roughly seven years against a 15-to-21-year expected lifespan. New Jersey pulled fuel cell subsidies entirely, and California ended its fuel cell manufacturer subsidy program.

GovernmentMoney

Lansing: The Union VP Who Votes on Union Projects

Rhinoceros NewsroomMar 11, 2026

Lansing Council Member Jeremy Garza is Vice President of UA Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 333 and earns $126,742 per year from the Michigan Pipe Trades Association. In 2025, he raised $48,050 from 16 itemized contributions; every dollar came from a union or PAC, with $24,500 from Local 333 alone, the largest single expenditure in that PAC's 28-year filing history. He has never recused from a vote on a development project.