Who actually owns our neighborhoods?

Dear Neighbor,

I’ve been thinking about all the conversations I’ve had with people across our community. At the grocery store, out knocking doors, at community events and through the calls and emails you send to my office. The same themes keep coming up, again and again: housing costs that are out of reach, grocery bills that keep climbing and neighborhoods burdened by companies that treat fines as a cost of doing business.

People are tired of playing by the rules and feeling like the economy is stacked against them. So what do we do about it?

We stand up, push back, and build a Michigan that actually works for everyday people, people like you and me, who are just trying to live a decent, fair life.

🏘️ STOP Private Equity Act

In Michigan and across the United States, millions of people, young families, seniors and longtime neighbors, are just trying to buy a place to call home. But home prices are skyrocketing, and affordable starter homes are disappearing faster than ever.

Homes are getting snatched up by private equity and hedge funds before families even get the chance to tour or put a deposit down. Entire blocks are being bought up by companies that have never set foot in our communities, let alone our state.

As a homeowner myself, I’ve seen my bills spike and affordable options decreasing. My staff have seen their rent climb higher and watched as their apartments were bought by massive investors. This problem affects each and every one of us — whether you’re a first-time buyer, or the neighbor who’s seeing your property tax bills go up.

That’s the problem we set out to solve with the STOP Private Equity Act package. This is about putting homes back in the hands of people who want to live in them, not the corporations looking to make a quick buck off the backs of our community.

Here’s what this legislation does:

• Makes it expensive for private equity and hedge funds to buy up homes in bulk, so families aren’t outbid by companies treating a house as inventory to bundle up and sell on Wall Street.
• Makes home buying more transparent, so you know who’s actually controlling the homes in our neighborhoods.
• Protects homeowners from predatory “CASH FOR YOUR HOME” operations, giving people time, information and actual transparency.

I’ve heard from parents who are scared their kids won’t be able to afford living close to them after they leave home, seniors who want to downsize without being pushed out of town, and workers who want to afford a place they can call home. This is about meeting the basic needs that everyone deserves so we can all have a fair shot at life.

🏷️Grocery Price Gouging Prevention Act

Brief history lesson here (don’t worry, it’s not graded).

Before the late 1800s, stores didn’t have a visible price for the goods they sold. Nobody knew what they would be paying when they walked into the store, and businesses decided they could get away with charging different people different prices. It was complete chaos. But the creation of the price tag gave customers a clear picture of what they were paying and fundamentally transformed how we do business.

Now, companies are trying to turn back those rules and keep you in the dark on what things really cost.

Chains like Whole Foods and Kroger are rolling out digital price tags, where the price displayed on the tag can be changed in seconds. The same gallon of milk can cost two completely different amounts depending on when you walk in or what a store’s algorithm thinks you’re willing to pay.

My Grocery Price Gouging Prevention Act takes aim at this exact kind of market manipulation. Here’s how it works:

• Bans surge pricing in grocery and big-box stores to keep food prices stable and predictable.
• Keeps the sales and discounts that shoppers rely on.
• Stops stores from quietly charging families more because they can’t shop in the middle of the day, or because of a protected legal class like race or religion.

If you see a price, you should be able to trust it. Food isn’t a luxury, and an algorithm shouldn’t get to decide who has the “luxury” of paying more.

🚛 Landfill Accountability Act

In parts of Plymouth, Northville and Salem Township, along with dozens of other communities across our state, people can’t even crack open a window without smelling a landfill. Unfortunately, I know that this applies to at least some of you that are reading this right now. If it does, I want you to know that your situation is not invisible and you are not alone.

For years, landfill operators have treated fines as a cost of doing business while neighborhoods pay the price.

The Landfill Accountability Act changes that by putting real, meaningful consequences in place by making fines that actually match the harm — over ten times higher, rather than amounts small enough for violators to ignore. People deserve clean air, healthy neighborhoods, and a state government that backs them up when they’re not getting what they need. This bill is a step to restoring that trust.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I believe that when we work together and take these issues head-on, we can make a real difference in people’s lives.

In solidarity,

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