Broadband, housing, education: Lt. Gov. discusses plans, priorities for second term

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist won a second term in the recent midterm election, results show that Northern Michigan voters leaned Republican.

Gilchrist told the Petoskey News-Review that he and the governor intend to serve all Michiganders and ensure all communities are heard.

“We have done our best to do that for the last four years and we're thankful for the opportunity to do it for more. When it comes to the specific needs of Northern Michigan residents, we want folks to know that we want to see our communities move forward,” Gilchrist said.

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High-speed internet

In 2021, Gilchrist was involved in establishing the Michigan High Speed Internet Office, which has led to further investments in broadband infrastructure across the state. Gilchrist has a background in computer programming and software development and has been vocal about his support for increasing Michiganders' access to fast internet.

On Thursday, the Michigan Infrastructure Office issued a press release urging Michigan residents to check a map of high-speed internet access across the state to ensure it accurately reflects their level of internet access. Inaccuracies should be reported to the FCC through the interactive map.

In April, Whitmer signed the Building Michigan Together plan which invested $250 million into broadband infrastructure in order to bring high-speed internet to individuals and businesses across Michigan.

Fast, affordable internet has been a challenge in Northern Michigan that was exacerbated after the COVID-19 pandemic increased the number of people working from home. With students and teachers moving to an online format and the unexpected trend of remote workers moving from cities to rural Michigan, the already limited infrastructure was strained even more.

Since then, internet access has been a top concern among Northern Michigan residents and Gilchrist said their administration will continue to invest in order to meet that need.

More:No broadband available at your home or business? You better tell the feds, quick.

More:Closing the gaps: Efforts, funding aim to bring high-speed internet to every Michigander

Affordable housing

High-speed internet is not the only priority for Northern Michigan. The housing crisis continues as the cost of living becomes more and more unaffordable for the average worker. The rural nature of northern communities further limits housing options for its residents, which has led to fewer people in the labor pool.

“Access to affordable housing was one of the things that really bubbled up in my Thriving Cities Tour, you see this particularly in our towns Up North. Our administration released the state's first ever statewide housing plan,” Gilchrist said.

“We funded earlier this year, in the Building Michigan Together plan, a $100 million investment in our state's Community Development Fund, which is a fund dedicated to financing affordable housing that's going to leverage another almost $500 million in private investment to build new housing of different types, to renovate and rehab existing housing to be available and affordable and to do so quickly," he added. "We want to continue down this path to invest more in our communities to make sure folks have really vibrant places to live and affordable places to live. Because having an affordable home, that's a starting point for your participation in civic life and we want folks to have access to that.”

More:Northern Michigan advocates celebrate major step towards affordable housing

In November, a bill package aiming to address barriers to affordable housing development was approved by the Michigan House of Representatives. The bill is now on its way to Whitmer for final approval.

Northern Michigan has struggled with affordable housing as the large number of wealthy individuals in the region has skewed the area median income. This has made it difficult for developments to receive low-income housing grants that base the qualifications on that median income. The recently passed bill package will help to address this by putting more control into the hands of local governments.

Priorities

As far as priorities go, Gilchrist said they have not changed. He and Whitmer intend to continue their focus on investing in statewide infrastructure like broadband, roads and bridges. They plan to continue their support of small businesses, as well as attracting economic development opportunities to the state.

They also plan to further invest in public education and access to child care in rural communities.

“We've already done record investments in K-12 education four years in a row and want to see that trend continue to do so in a way that goes a step further. To be able to have individualized support for the learning needs of our students that have had a tough last few years, I'm saying this as a parent of elementary school aged children,” Gilchrist said.

“(Students) need extra support, their education professionals who work with them need extra support. So we want to make sure that we're there for those professionals to deliver for our kids and push Michigan to be a top 10 state when it comes to literacy.”

Going into 2023, Whitmer and Gilchrist plan to continue the work they started in their first term by working across party lines in order to meet the needs of Michiganders across the state.

“These are some of the things that we're going to continue to press forward on and work on so that people know that wherever they live in Michigan, whether they work in Michigan, they're going to be supported, respected, protected and invested in,” Gilchrist said.

— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @Tess_Petoskey.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gilchrist discusses Northern Michigan plans, priorities for second term