The persecution of Tammie Arend

February 28, 2021; updated March 2

It has been two and a half years since Tammie Arend's house flooded after her roof was replaced through a home rehab program administered by the City of Lansing. The leak was fixed, but moisture continues to enter the home due to broken gutters - broken by the contractor - and improper roof ventilation. Tammie struggles to wipe away the mold that is forming on everything and has trouble breathing due to the mold spores in the air. Her heating bill is sky high because she leaves windows open for fresh air. Her furniture is ruined. Her health is deteriorating.

I wrote a story about her situation last October, hoping the City would step up, take responsibility for the damage, and find a solution for her. There has been nothing but silence.

In July 2020, a staff member from the City Attorney's office told her in an email that

It was the City Development Office that "selected" that independent contractor, Frederickson Construction of Bath. Frederickson was the only bidder. And there are problems with that November 19, 2019 inspection. The report - written by James Bennett - concluded as follows:

The roof leak that occurred "at some point in the past" was after the new roof was installed and before the contractor came back and fixed it. At that point, the water damage was done.

In the body of the report, Bennett finds that the gutters "are damaged with open joints, lack of end caps, and no downspout rendering the system ineffective in channeling storm water away from the structure." That damage was done by the contractor; the gutters were fine before. Here's what they looked like before:

The picture below shows that same side of the house (from a different angle) after the roof replacement. The gutters are missing.

And Bennett apparently did not examine the roof ventilation, critical to keeping moisture out of the house. It was, it turns out, not functional. An independent inspection done a month later found a couple of serious problems:

(Tammie says that what looked like foam insulation to the inspector was really a foam-like material used to fill the holes drilled to blow in loose insulation.)

The air was so bad inside the house during Bennett's inspection that the men with him had to step out from time to time for fresh air. We know that only because of an account written by Tammie's friend Melissa Quon Huber, who attended the inspection. Two City employees whose names Melissa did not know were there along with Bennett. She refers to them as the tall gentleman in a suit and the one on Carhartts. The suit was Donald Kulhanek, the Development Manager for the Development Office. The one in the Carhartts was Steve Guel. Here are some excerpts from Melissa's account:

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It is clear from Melissa's account that the purpose of the visit was not to do a thorough, objective inspection but to prepare a report to shield the City and the contractor from responsibility.

On October 22, 2020 I sent this email to Mayor Andy Schor:

Dear Mayor Schor,

Tamara Arend needs a place to live and needs it soon. As I said in my October 5 story, her home was made uninhabitable by Frederickson Construction when they replaced her roof and repaired the chimney in May 2018.

This work was done through the CDBG loan program funded by HUD and administered by your Development Office. The faulty installation allowed water to leak in, flooding the home. Furniture and belongings were ruined and mold began growing. Frederickson's one attempt to correct the problem did further costly damage.

She still lives in the home, but can use only portions of it. Conditions have continued to deteriorate. The shower has not been operable for over 2 years. She has to leave the windows open and run the heat constantly to keep the humidity down. She is facing her third winter under these ever-worsening conditions and it is affecting her already precarious health.

Mayor Andy Schor

Ms. Arend's income is from SSI and Social Security disability and amounts to around $770 a month. She cannot find a place she can afford. She needs some sort of emergency housing voucher so she has a place to stay until this matter can be remedied.

She has offered to sign a waiver to release the City from any liability and hold the contractor solely responsible.

Obtaining any legal remedy from Frederickson Construction will take time. The immediate need is housing. Since this all occurred under the supervision of your Development Office, I hope you will agree that it is the City's moral duty to come to her aid.

He did not respond.

Tammie has in been in contact with U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin's office and they have been trying for months to set up a meeting with HUD and the City. ($10,000 of the of the $12,900 cost of the roof replacement was a HUD grant.) The City can't seem to find the time - either that or they are hoping she will die before they have to do anything. This is from an March 2 email Tammie received from Representative Slotkin's constituent services director:

My chief of staff has tried reaching out to the city of Lansing I believe 3 times in the past week. I spoke to her yesterday and we may go ahead and have a meeting with HUD without the City of Lansing if they don't respond very soon.

A Lansing family has donated $5,000 to retain a lawyer for Tammie. On February 10, the lawyer told the City he is looking for a solution that does not involve substantial litigation, but without that must consider a lawsuit. He's had no response. Clearly, this is going to be a long, drawn-out fight and $5,000 isn't going to cover it. A GoFundMe account has been established to finance the lawsuit. Please consider a donation.

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

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