Michigan Releases First-Ever Statewide Housing Plan

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) released its first-ever Statewide Housing Plan on September 7. The plan discusses eight priorities: equity and racial justice, the housing ecosystem, homelessness, housing stock, older adult housing, rental housing, homeownership, and communication and education. Governor Gretchen Whitmer also signed an executive order to create the Michigan Statewide Housing Partnership, an advisory body dedicated to implementing the plan.

The plan aims to construct or rehabilitate more than 75,000 housing units, which will include at least 39,000 affordable rental homes, at least 13,500 homeownership opportunities for low-income and middle-income households, at least 21,500 market rate homes, and at least 1,000 units of workforce housing. The plan also aims to stabilize housing for more than 100,000 households, weatherize and improve home energy efficiency for more than 15,000 homes, and make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring. 

“Michigan can’t increase the resiliency of our communities or create an equitable economy without major investments in housing,” said Luke Forrest, executive director at the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM). “CEDAM was honored to help inform Michigan’s first Statewide Housing Plan, which offers a critical roadmap to address our state’s housing needs. We look forward to supporting the ambitious goals laid out in the Plan to create more affordable homes, increase access to homeownership, and prevent and end homelessness.”

Equity and racial justice together form the first of the plan’s eight priority areas. The plan notes that Black Michiganders are five times more likely to experience homelessness or be at risk of homelessness than other groups. According to a 2021 survey, 23% of Michigan renters report that they have experienced housing discrimination. To achieve racial justice in housing, the plan sets out to use data to identify systemic inequities; advocate for policy changes that will remove barriers to housing access; increase the supply of accessible, safe, and healthy housing across all neighborhoods and communities; increase access to housing for returning citizens and justice-involved individuals, including those with disabilities; and strengthen opportunities for resident input in the development process. The plan lists some specific strategies to pursue these goals, which include:

  • Establishing a standing equity advisory committee that incorporates people with lived experience.
  • Partnering with other sectors to share relevant data.
  • Identifying and addressing the impact of redlining, exclusionary zoning, appraisals, loan application denials, insurance premiums, and other discriminatory practices.
  • Identifying disparate impacts from rental housing application criteria and recommending changes, such as alternative documentation.
  • Funding a centralized case management or navigator program to help clients overcome barriers to housing access.
  • Incentivizing landlords to rent to recipients of rental assistance.
  • Educating landlords and developers about the unique needs of immigrant, refugee, and migrant communities.
  • Increasing the number of BIPOC landlords and property managers.
  • Promoting universal and barrier-free design accessibility.
  • Incentivizing the production of 3- and 4-bedroom homes for larger and multigenerational households.
  • Incentivizing greater production of accessible homes, including for extremely low-income renters, in new developments.
  • Providing resources that increase accessibility for Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
  • Advocating for more flexibility, collaboration, and awareness around public housing assistance programs for justice-involved individuals.
  • Promoting and conducting training for housing providers and real estate professionals on HUD’s guidance on considering criminal records.
  • Increasing rental assistance for returning citizens and justice-involved individuals.
  • Encouraging and incentivizing municipalities to assess the racial equity impact of new development.
  • Promoting the use of community-benefit agreements in the development process.
  • Encouraging local communities to put inclusive community engagement requirements in master plans.

The second priority area is Michigan’s housing ecosystem – the agencies, organizations, staff, volunteers, programs, services, data systems, and financing that develop, maintain, and provide support to those needing assistance with housing. The plan lists a series of goals to improve collaboration, talent capacity, and data availability across the state. These goals include fostering the demographic diversity of the construction, planning and zoning, and real estate industries, and ensuring that a greater share of housing-related contracts go to underrepresented businesses. Strengthening the housing ecosystem also requires increasing affordable high-speed internet.

The third priority is to prevent and end homelessness. This section of the plan aligns with the priorities of Michigan’s Campaign to End Homelessness (MCTEH). The plan lays out strategies to center equity and racial justice throughout the homelessness response system; increase access to stable, affordable, and quality homes for extremely low-income households; make the homelessness response system more client-centered, flexible, trauma-informed, and culturally inclusive; increase cross-system partnerships and address social determinants of health; and use data to better understand and meet the needs of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The fourth priority is to improve the quantity, quality, and placement of Michigan’s housing stock. This section of the plan lists strategies to increase the supply of affordable, attainable housing across the full spectrum; reduce and offset construction costs without sacrificing quality; ensure that new housing development meets state climate and healthy housing goals without increasing residents’ costs; rehabilitate and preserve existing housing; promote environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, and weatherization in rehabilitation and preservation efforts; increase the supply of missing middle and workforce housing; employ equitable and holistic planning and zoning practices; and promote community-oriented revitalization that prevents the negative impact of gentrification.

The fifth priority area is older adult housing. Older adults make up 17% of Michigan’s population and were the only age group to increase in size between 2015 and 2019. The plan proposes to equitably expand the supply of affordable and accessible rental homes for older adults by removing barriers in existing programs and exploring joint ventures, such as affordable assisted living, with hospitals and other organizations. The plan also outlines strategies that enable older adults to age in a place of their choice, such as aging-in-place education and resources, funding opportunities that allow older adult homeowners to make home modifications, local zoning that increases older adult housing options such as accessory dwelling units, and programs to transition older adults from nursing homes into housing with in-home care services. The plan also recommends increasing the number of affordable facilities that offer a continuum of care within one building or complex – such as independent living, assisted living, and long-term care programs.

The sixth priority area is rental housing. Michigan renters report significantly lower satisfaction with the quality and safety of their homes than homeowners. This section outlines three goals for rental housing: to reduce the number of evictions, to reduce the number of rent-burdened households among underserved and vulnerable populations, and to increase the quality of rental housing. Specific strategies to pursue these goals include:

  • Encouraging early-intervention eviction diversion and referral programing and, if eviction proceedings are unavoidable, increasing tenants’ access to legal services.
  • Permanently funding eviction diversion services.
  • Preventing illegal lockouts.
  • Working with landlords and trade associations to remove housing barriers for underserved populations.
  • Advocating for increased federal rental assistance, living wages, annual rent increase caps, and a ban on source-of-income discrimination.
  • Offering ongoing rental support for refugees, immigrants, and migrants.
  • Identifying non-federal funding sources to bridge the gap between housing subsidies and market rents.
  • Establishing a statewide housing mobility program targeted to Housing Choice Voucher tenants and prospective landlords, including supportive services and incentives for landlords in mixed-income areas.
  • Assisting landlords who have financial hardships to make sure property is safe, healthy, weatherized, and energy-efficient while remaining affordable.
  • Supporting municipalities’ efforts to maintain landlord registries, inspect units, and enforce rental codes.

The seventh priority area is homeownership. This section lays out strategies to create homeownership equity among members of different races and ethnic groups; boost homeownership among low-income and moderate-income households; increase access to education, products, and services that make homeownership more attainable; and stabilize and sustain homeownership.

The final priority area is communication and education. A public survey conducted in 2021 found that one-third of Michigan renters, one-third of potential homebuyers, and 45% of homeowners do not know where to go for housing assistance, which points to the need for greater publicly available resources. This piece of the plan outlines strategies to increase support for accessible, affordable, and attainable housing throughout Michigan; increase inclusive education and awareness of existing programs; enhance awareness about fair housing rights and how to file complaints; and expand financial literacy and wealth-building opportunities.

The Michigan Statewide Housing Partnership, newly established in Governor Whitmer’s executive order, is tasked with implementing the statewide housing plan. Its responsibilities include making recommendations to MSHDA on resources and policy changes that are necessary to carry out the Statewide Housing Plan, developing an action plan focusing on statewide goals and strategies, monitoring implementation of the plan, reporting to the governor and the public on its progress, establishing regional consortiums to develop regional action plans, and proposing a communications and marketing plan. Over the course of five years, the Statewide Housing Partnership will develop a public dashboard to report on statewide and regional outcomes, including progress on the statewide targets, and will revise action plans as needed. The Statewide Housing Partnership must include representation from MSHDA, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the State Landbank Authority Board of Directors, the Michigan Strategic Fund Board of Directors, and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The governor will appoint 18 individuals to the Statewide Housing Partnership, which will include representatives from philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, community development organizations, the business and development community, the finance industry, local and tribal governments, and advocacy organizations, as well as people with lived experience of housing instability.

To learn more about MSHDA and the Statewide Housing Plan, visit Michigan.gov/HousingPlan. To learn more about CEDAM and its work, visit cedamichigan.org.