When Princess Honeycutt moved into her apartment last April, she thought it’d be a fresh start.
After experiencing homelessness and moving in with several of her nine children, Honeycutt, 59, yearned for a place of her own. Her options are limited, because her only source of income is the disability benefits she receives following a hip replacement, but with the help of Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency she moved into an apartment at the corner of Marx Street and State Fair Avenue.
The packet of paperwork she received upon moving in included fliers detailing how to prevent lead paint and dust exposure and its impact on the body. However, during her time living at the apartment building, Honeycutt made a discovery: tickets left behind by Detroit’s Building Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED), indicating that the property wasn’t in compliance.
It was far from the first time the company was in hot water with the city. Michigan Real Token and its sister companies had received $49,385 for lead-related violations from BSEED between January 2023 and October 2024, ticket records obtained by Metro Times show.
In October, the Detroit City Council changed its rental ordinance to make its lead inspection requirements less stringent, aiming to lower the barrier to compliance for landlords and enabling the city to inspect possibly dangerous properties.
However, as the city implements the changes in the coming months, the ordinance has been criticized for putting children at risk and now faces a challenge from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). Some argue that the new regulations won’t be sufficient to hold landlords accountable and keep renters safe.
Michigan Real Token is one of multiple Detroit property owners that have accumulated more than $15,000 in lead-related fines, according to an analysis of BSEED tickets by Metro Times. Among the other property owners and their sister companies with more than $15,000 in lead-related violations were Detroiter Holdings ($43,520), Silver Capital LLC ($31,000), UC Palmer ($35,000), MHMC LLC ($21,320), and FDR Investments LLC ($18,810), BSEED ticket records show.
As it turns out, Michigan Real Token’s non-compliance with the city’s rental regulations was the tip of the iceberg. In an interview with Metro Times, Honeycutt describes other problems with her building, including a roach infestation, water leaking into her walls, and heat issues. While the heat issue has since been resolved, the roach problem persists, pushing her to temporarily stay with one of her children again while she seeks another place.
“I never lived [in] housing where they didn’t care,” Honeycutt says. “I’ve been doing what I could do [about the infestation]… trying to keep them down, but, yeah, it’s rough.”
As tenants like Honeycutt shelter within distressed properties, proponents of the new ordinance aim to root out repeat offenders, though it remains to be seen whether the new regulations will do so. Under the city’s previous rental ordinance, the city fined landlords for lead-related violations, most often for failing to obtain a certificate of compliance. Between January 2023 and October 2024, landlords accrued more than $4.4 million in lead-related judgments, but the city only collected more than $775,000 in payments, according to BSEED ticket records.
The previous ordinance required inspectors to use an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) device to check for lead paint as part of the city’s Lead Inspection Risk Assessment (LIRA), which can cost more than $650. Under the new ordinance, landlords are required to get visual inspections to look for damaged lead paint.
While visual inspections require inspectors to look for deteriorated paint on the interior or exterior of the home that may contain lead, dust wipe inspections involve using wipes on floors, window sills, and other areas to test for lead dust, according to guidelines from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
According to Andrea Taverna, deputy chief operating officer at the City of Detroit, MDHHS notified the city that its dust wipe sampling conflicts with the Michigan Lead Abatement Act, so the city won’t be able to implement that component.
In a statement to Metro Times, a MDHHS spokesperson confirmed that certified professionals conducting lead-based paint activities must comply with the Lead Abatement Act.
“Michigan is committed to protecting families from lead exposure, from paint, soil, household plumbing and other sources,” the spokesperson said. “Local entities can provide lead prevention services, but these services cannot conflict with or be less protective than state law.”
“We, of course, looked at the same issue before the ordinance was passed, but we respect that the state is the final arbiter of this,” Taverna says. “We’re going to be working with the Michigan legislature to try to change the underlying state law, because we still believe that this is the best way to keep kids in Detroit safe.”
Critics say that lowering lead standards will make residents less safe.
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Despite that obstacle, the city is moving ahead with its plan to implement visual inspections. About three-fourths of property owners in Detroit’s ZIP codes are able to apply for a certificate of compliance if the properties have completed the home inspection and visual lead assessment for damaged paint, Taverna says. Starting May 1, properties across every ZIP code will be able to apply for the compliance certificate, and Taverna says the city plans to update its payment process to make it easier for property owners to make payments.
Third-party inspectors handle the bulk of the city’s inspections for one- to two-family unit properties, and BSEED inspectors inspect properties housing three families or more, Taverna confirms. To step up its enforcement under the new ordinance, the city hired a new rental housing safety manager in early February and is reviewing proposals to handle the inspections, she says.
Critics say that lowering lead standards will make residents less safe. The new ordinance threatens to undo the progress the city has made in reducing the number of lead-poisoned children over time, says Lyke Thompson, director of the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University.
The previous LIRA inspection could reliably detect lead at the atomic level, but the process was criticized for being too cost-prohibitive and unnecessary. Unlike an XRF device used during the previous inspection process, humans can’t comprehensively detect lead just by looking at it, of course. And if the city will be allowed to use lead wipes in the future, those inspections could cost landlords hundreds or even thousands of dollars, Thompson warns.
Once rental properties are inspected under the new ordinance, “they won’t need to be reinspected according to the city for a while, and the kids will be in there getting exposed to lead because the visual assessment is very, very weak,” Thompson says.
In response to visual lead inspection concerns, Taverna says landlords are likely passing the costs of LIRA inspections onto renters, and the LIRA process is “much more extensive, expensive, frankly infeasible inspection isn’t what’s needed.”
Echoing Honeycutt’s experience, the city is also concerned not only about lead compliance but also about the volume of complaints it receives from tenants, ranging from structurally unsound housing to a lack of utilities, she says.
“We spend a lot of time talking about lead,” Taverna says. “There’s a very healthy debate on that, but actually, our biggest concern is getting into houses to make sure that they meet really basic quality standards that every Detroiter deserves.”
During a Feb. 4 court hearing, a property manager for the apartment building where Honeycutt lives appeared on behalf of Michigan Real Token. BSEED had fined the company for having trash outside of the property, rodent droppings, and defective drainage on the roof. The judge dismissed both tickets for investigatory review, because the BSEED inspector failed to include photos of his findings for the court to see. However, the judge issued a fine to the company for failing to obtain a certificate of compliance, costing the company $250 for the fine and a $30 administrative fee.
Honeycutt, who attended the hearing virtually, confirms with Metro Times that the apartment complex indeed had garbage near the building. The judge’s decision to dismiss the ticket felt unfair, because the lack of pictures from the inspector gave the company leeway to avoid accountability, she says.
Taverna notes that the city is working to standardize its inspection process and create new landlord guides that show images of properties that have failed their inspections. However, she acknowledges that inspectors are supposed to take photos of each violation at a rental property.
Despite multiple requests, BSEED did not grant Metro Times an interview.
An attorney representing Detroiter Holdings declined to comment on this story. UC Palmer, MHMC LLC, and FDR Investments did not respond to requests for comment.
In response to a list of questions from Metro Times, a spokesperson from Michigan Real Token said the company has recently become aware of tenant complaints and has enlisted New Detroit PM LLC to manage the properties.
“Our growing maintenance and renovation crew of 18 employees is aware of all complaints and is responding in a timely manner,” the spokesperson said. “To attract and retain tenants, it is clearly in our best interest to be responsive to our tenants and to provide well-maintained, safe and healthy housing.”
The new ordinance allows the city to place a lien on the property tax bill, giving it another tool to collect the blight tickets landlords owe, Taverna says.
“We’ve been clear that our goal here is to get homes into compliance because compliance equals healthy, safe housing for Detroit tenants,” Taverna says. Landlords “have all of these opportunities to work with us, but if they choose not to, then we’re going to come after them with a much larger penalty than we do currently.”
Sterling Capital Group, owned by Sterling Howard, had accumulated $31,000 in lead-related violations between January 2023 and October 2024, BSEED ticket records show. After acknowledging that his company has “received hundreds of tickets from the city of Detroit,” Howard says he has been in communication with the mayoral administration and BSEED regarding the hurdles landlords face to reach compliance, adding that he was part of a stakeholder committee representing landlords as the city implemented its previous ordinance.
“I’ve talked to all of these people and so have other landlords and tenant advocacy groups. It is broken and it’s not working, and we need to have something,” Howard says. “Obviously, I’m speaking from a landlord’s perspective, but I think everybody’s interest is aligned. I think everybody wants to see [a] healthy environment for people to thrive in.”
The costs associated with bringing rental properties up to compliance, the inability to charge market-rate rents, the lack of grants or loans to pay for repairs, and tenants’ ability to withhold rent for non-compliant properties are barriers to meeting the city’s standards, Howard explains. If a landlord, for example, generates $200 in profit on a property but the repairs will cost $25,000, the landlord likely can’t afford that, he says.
“We’ve created this environment where you have a lot of residents that are taking advantage of some of these rules,” Howard says. “If we’re not forcing tenants to comply as well [as] participate, pay rent, pay it in the escrow, deal with those things … people will take advantage of that.”
While smaller landlords could very well be struggling to afford compliance costs, numerous landlords in the city employ property management firms to run their properties but also haven’t reached compliance, Taverna says.
“It’s certainly true and valid and a real concern for a lot of landlords, especially mom and pop landlords,” Taverna says. “And then there are other landlords who raise it as a point when it may not entirely reflect their financial reality.”
As the city tries to bring more landlords into compliance, tenants like Honeycutt are left searching for safe, affordable housing. In addition to withholding her rent from Michigan Real Token and living with one of the children, she is also looking for a new apartment, but there are waiting lists for the apartments in her price range.
Reflecting on how she makes it through these living conditions, Honeycutt says, “I pray a lot… I was just hoping one day somebody will rescue us or hear the story.”
