Kyle Richard Centers Housing First in Lansing School Board Campaign
This is a Housing First Campaign.
Kyle Richard is a teacher, a housing advocate, and a candidate for Lansing School Board this year. We are in the midst of a housing crisis. Local, State, and Federal Officials are not meeting the moment. Now is the time for big ideas and creative solutions.
Housing First is the solution. Housing First is public policy that understands that when people have access to secure housing they’re empowered to pursue their goals and improve their lives (endhomelessness.org).
22.6% of our neighbors are living in poverty as of 2024 and that percentage is higher for children (censusreporter.org). Housing instability impacts children’s education negatively regardless of how old the child is (habitatforhumanity.org).
We can build a Lansing School District that supports all students by building a community that provides permanently affordable housing for families, teachers, and staff. The Superintendent has already said publicly that the Lansing School District has more buildings than other districts with similar student populations. There may come a time in the future where the Lansing School District will want to consolidate buildings and when the time comes Kyle would want the District to work collaboratively with the City, the County, and the State to maintain those properties in public hands and prioritize buildings for housing redevelopment, Kyle’s understanding is that the Superintendent already has a list.
Kyle ran for Lansing School Board in 2024 and finished runner up with over 12,000 Lansing residents casting a ballot in his direction. In 2025, less than 6 months into the term, one of the winners from 2024 resigned. Kyle participated in the vacancy process and asked the board to uphold the results of the last election and reaffirm the voice of Lansing voters, but the Board refused to do so.
Kyle is running for the 4-year partial term because Kyle believes that the Lansing School Board must be held accountable to the people.
Kyle attended public school in Waverly and in Eaton Rapids and moved to Lansing proper in 2016. Kyle taught at J.W. Sexton High School (Go J.Dubbs) for two and a half school years before stepping away for health reasons. Students in my class were hungry, students in my class were homeless, and all while history textbooks fell apart in my hands. I felt powerless and that powerlessness manifested in the physical world as disordered eating. It was never about the kids, it was about the conditions. Students at J.W. Sexton High School taught me what it means to love this city and I’ll love this city until the day that I die.
Kyle currently works in the Autism and Emotional Impairment Resource Room at Eaton Rapids Middle School and is building out an understanding of what it means to work in Special Education.
Kyle served 2 years as Co-Chair of the Greater Lansing Democratic Socialists of America and was a founding member of Lansing Rent is Too Damn High. Kyle is passionate about issues related to housing, accessibility, justice, and human rights. In Middle School Kyle volunteered at a wildlife rehabilitation center south of Eaton Rapids called Wildside. Volunteering at Wildside Kyle cleaned cages in the raptor room and worked predominantly with birds of prey, owls, hawks. One summer though there was an incubator in the raptor room and in the incubator were three baby sandhill cranes. Every Sunday Kyle would volunteer at the center and every Sunday he got to watch them grow. Soon enough they were too big for the incubator. Soon enough they needed to go for walks outside. As part of his responsibilities at the center Kyle took the cranes for walks around the grounds, the director of the center said they needed to feel the air under their wings. One Sunday when Kyle arrived at Wildside the cranes were gone. Kyle was crying mess. When asked where the cranes had gone, the director shared that “another volunteer had taken the cranes for a walk and they flew away… but that’s what we were here to do.” That’s what we were here to do. To raise each other up, to teach each other to fly.
Both of Kyle’s parents are Navy Veterans. Kyle’s family includes Army, Navy, and Air Force veterans, service workers, UAW auto workers, actors, athletes, and one volunteer firefighter. Kyle is the first member of his family to graduate from college as a traditional student.
Kyle graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2016 with a double major in Secondary Education and Group Social Studies (U.S. History, World History, Economics, Government). Kyle was a business major for one semester including classes in law and accounting. Kyle understands education and how to read a balance sheet.
Kyle volunteers with the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center helping tenants navigate the system and resources available. The Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center needs our financial support. Please consider making a one time or monthly recurring donation to the Mid-Michigan Tenant Resource Center today. https://givebutter.com/TRC-mid-mi
Kyle is an educator by trade.
Paid For by Kyle Richard for Lansing Schools
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