Housing Michigan, a coalition led by the Grand Rapids Chamber, Home Builders Association of Michigan, Michigan Municipal League and HousingNorth, is calling on the Michigan House of Representatives to quickly approve the bipartisan Housing Michigan legislation sponsored by Senators Ken Horn (R-Frankenmuth), Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) and Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City) and Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids). The legislation passed the Michigan Senate in 2021 with an overwhelming bi-partisan majority, and now sits in the House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee.
The recent announcement on the state’s upcoming first housing plan highlights the immediate and urgent need for ways to address housing challenges. The Michigan’s Statewide Housing Plan Overview highlights that “Michigan has a pressing need to develop, rehabilitate, and preserve housing across the state at price points for every level of income.” The plan’s housing targets include 75,000+ new or rehabilitated units and 100,000+ households stabilized.
These bills create opportunities to support these goals through locally-directed public-private partnerships while contributing to attainable rental housing supply, supporting housing stabilization, reduce equity gaps and other key targets.
“Action must be taken now to begin the work to achieve the urgent needs highlighted by the statewide plan and many other housing studies. These bills are designed to provide much needed local tools to create and retain housing that is attainable for more Michigan citizens,” said Joshua Lunger, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Grand Rapids Chamber. “Ottawa and Kent Counties alone need more than 37,000 units across housing types and price points, and a significant percentage of this need falls on working households who earn too much to qualify for subsidies but not enough to afford market rate housing. These bills will help us address this in a targeted, locally-driven way.”
“Over one million Michigan families can’t afford a home that costs more than $150,000, let alone a new home with the medium price being just over $350,000. The cost of residential construction has been impacted by rising material costs, labor shortages and more. The public-private partnerships that will be allowed to take place at the local level in this legislative package are critical in addressing the “missing middle” area of peak demand,” said Dawn Crandall, Executive Vice President of Government Relations for the Home Builders Association of Michigan.
“Communities across Michigan are in need of pathways to address their specific housing needs. This legislation equips communities with the ability to direct support to meet community needs through partnership with housing providers,” said Jennifer Rigterink, Assistant Director of State & Federal Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League. “With a willing partner, local governments will decide if, when and how to use these incentives to increase housing attainability.”
“Northern Michigan is being stretched thin and it is having a major impact on employers and communities. Our region too often can’t compete for current programs, but these bills give our partners the chance to find innovative solutions that work based on each communities needs and economic realities,” said Yarrow Brown, Executive Director of Housing North.
The legislation uses three proven concepts that have been active in Michigan for years to create new flexible and locally driven incentives for workforce housing. SBs 362 & 422 are modeled on Commercial/Industrial Facilities Exemptions and extend this concept to residential property, SB 364 extends NEZ to allow all local units to use them with some added language to protect against sprawl, and SB 432 allows for local PILOTS (or PILTS) for workforce housing without requiring state or federal subsidies or programs.
SB 362 (Brinks) – Attainable Housing Facilities Act
SB 422 (Horn) – Residential Facilities Exemption
SB 364 (Moss) – Neighborhood Enterprise Zone (NEZ) expansion
SB 432 (Schmidt) – PILOTs for workforce housing
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About Housing Michigan: The Housing Michigan Coalition consists of community, business, and government organizations whose efforts focus on increasing housing supply and affordability; enhancing the accessibility and affordability of homes; and supporting economic and job growth for all Michigan families.
