Cities’ Residency Rules Hit Home

Amy and Patrick Hart live in this middle-class city. Some nights.

Other nights, they live 63 miles away in Warren, a booming suburb of Detroit.

They own two houses. Mow two lawns. Pay two mortgages. Their infant son, David, has two cribs, two playpens, two bouncer seats to soothe him when he fusses.

Theirs is a life divided--not by choice but by law.

Amy Hart is a firefighter in Warren. A local ordinance says she must live in the city she serves. Patrick Hart is a firefighter in Flint. He, too, is bound to live where he works. They’ve tried to find new jobs but can’t.

So for years, their only option has been to live here, then live there, in turns.

The Harts will finally be released from their doubled-up existence in the spring, as Michigan lawmakers--after more than a decade of bitter debate--last week decreed that the state no longer will tolerate residency requirements. As of April 1, all 90 such laws across Michigan will be abolished. Cities determined to maintain some control over workers’ addresses can mandate only that they live within a 20-mile radius of municipal boundaries.

Change can’t come quickly enough for the Harts, who have felt for years “like we never know where we’re at,” said Patrick, pointing to a pickup truck crammed with clothes, baby gear and a good-natured dog that endures the house-to-house shuttle several times a week.

“We just want what’s afforded every other individual,” agreed Marty Bandemer, who leads the union of Detroit police officers. “The right to choose where to live.”

Although it’s hard to argue with freedom, there are many municipal employees disappointed in the state’s action.

Some feel their city is safer with firefighters and police officers required to be close at hand day and night.

Others believe that living where they work is essential to providing good service. Traffic engineers should drive the streets they design. The public works staff should suffer along with everyone else if the sewage plant busts a pipe.

“It’s just a fundamental belief that public service should include being a part of the community,” said Gregory Bowens, a spokesman for Detroit’s mayor.

While the debate in Michigan has been particularly intense, the same controversy has flared around the nation in recent years--with varying results. Baltimore and Denver recently abolished residency rules. New Orleans’ law has long been tangled in court battles. To get around California’s blanket ban on residency requirements, Los Angeles offers financial incentives for public safety workers to buy homes in the city. Boston and Chicago continue to dictate where at least some employees can live.

Opponents grumble that forced residency doesn’t do a lot for civic spirit and may only make for resentful employees. But advocates insist that everyone in the city benefits if those in charge have a personal as well as professional incentive to get things done--and to do them right.

“I can best serve this city by living in it,” explained Reggie Crawford, a Detroit police officer for 22 years who says his neighbors have helped him track down local thugs because they feel he’s part of the community.

By way of contrast, Crawford points to Los Angeles, where a study a few years back found 83% of police officers living outside city limits. To him, that’s a recipe for friction.

“You’re a mere soldier of occupation,” he contends, “if you drive into the city to work.”

Beyond the moral issue Crawford raises, the end of mandated residency could mean economic hardship for Detroit. A recent study estimated that up to 15,000 residents--one-quarter of the municipal work force, plus their families--would move out of the city if they had the chance. Detroit also stands to lose $25 million a year in taxes--a big blow for one of the nation’s poorest cities.

Supporters of Michigan’s move insist that, while a few cities may lose population, public safety will not suffer when residency laws are erased.

In these days of mutual aid pacts, it’s no longer vital for police and firefighters to live near their stations in case of emergency. And many municipal employees are insulted at the idea that their address would affect their commitment to the job.

As Detroit firefighter Donald Knobelsdorf put it: “In my 30-year career, I have personally saved the lives of 21 people. Not one of those people asked me where I live.”