MML November/December 2022 Review Magazine

REVIVING HOUSING PATTERNS TO HELP MICHIGAN THRIVE

By Melissa Milton-Pung

Searching for Something That Isn’t There I f you were to begin a housing search today, could you find a new place to live in your community? And if you could locate housing, could you effectively compete for that home? Finally, here’s the kicker: could you even afford to purchase or rent without being housing cost-burdened? In most Michigan housing markets, this feat is increasingly impossible. As I wrote earlier this year, when discussing the new Michigan Statewide Housing Plan (SHP), we have abundant evidence of the need for new (and rehabbed) housing units. Housing prices are up a whopping 84 percent since 2013. And it’s hitting Michigan right where we live. The SHP endeavors to not only set the stage for the rehab of existing housing units but also calls for creating at least 75,000 new housing units. The plan also endeavors to rectify historical inequities in housing access and other housing challenges. It will take time and many partners to accomplish those goals. Right now, the need for housing is growing daily. Especially apartments and condos.

The lack of available smaller-scale housing units is a wet blanket to economic mobility. It artificially limits job growth due to a shortage of options near employers. It is depressing the ambitions of not only early-career professionals, but also all kinds of families, both big and small, across many age groups.

HUD defines cost-burdened families as those “who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing” and “may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care.” Severe rent burden is defined as paying more than 50 percent of one’s income on rent.

20 THE REVIEW

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2022