A step forward, a step back: Recent housing successes and setbacks

The continued effort to bring affordable housing to Northern Michigan saw some success this week when Northwest Michigan Habitat for Humanity held an open house at the Meadowlands subdivision in Alanson, following the announcement of its Foundations for our Future Campaign on Aug. 5.

Habitat is working to raise $5 million in funds for construction of 43 modular homes in Emmet and Charlevoix counties by 2025. The Meadowlands subdivision will hold 32 of those homes.

“With inflation, with the cost of everything going up, with the cost of construction going up, it has just become really difficult to build residential housing that you can sell at a price point that a working class family could afford,” said Gina Stegehuis, marketing manager for Habitat.

“Especially here in Northern Michigan, we have a lot of seasonal workers, hospitality workers. And so we used to really serve that but as of lately, we're getting calls from nurses, a lot of our recent homes have sold to nurses, construction workers. Really, regardless of what job you're working up here, you're still struggling to afford your housing and find housing.”

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In the same week as the open house, The Alexander apartment complex was expected to have its groundbreaking ceremony before starting construction, but the ceremony was postponed until further notice.

The Alexander will be a workforce housing apartment building with 156 units that range from one to three bedrooms on the corner of Atkins and McDougal in Bear Creek Township. The estimated rental rates are $900-$1,500 per month.

Development projects don’t just require significant funding to get off the ground, but also permits and zoning requirements, all of which take time and can put a stop to development.

One of the biggest challenges to building affordable housing is the need for water and sewer infrastructure. Due to the rural area, most of that infrastructure is concentrated near cities like Petoskey where the cost of living tends to be higher.

After receiving all of its approvals from Bear Creek Township and the county, The Alexander ran into a roadblock when the infrastructure needed didn’t quite make it to the lot. Now, the developers behind the complex are required to build that infrastructure themselves, including a public lift station that will make future development easier.

“The biggest burden to development is the lack of infrastructure, because we're in a rural region,” Housing North Program Director Andrea Jacobs said. “As a community, the Housing Partnership and many of us in the local housing community are trying to get a little bit creative as far as how we can get some more collaboration or some strategic ways to address this cost burden so that we don't have to have this 156 dwelling unit property get put on pause or stopped completely.”

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While the cost of the necessary infrastructure has put the cost of the complex beyond the developer’s means, with community assistance and fundraising, supporters of The Alexander are still hoping to see the project succeed. Once the infrastructure is built, a significant barrier to development in Bear Creek will be solved, hopefully paving the way for more affordable housing projects.

In the current housing market, even people making good money are struggling to find affordable homes. In the past, Habitat required applicants for a home to have a maximum income of 80 percent of the area median income. But recently, the organization increased the maximum income requirement to 120 percent as more people have struggled to buy homes in such a competitive market.

“We're seeing the need for housing, even at those higher incomes. So it's going to allow us to serve a much larger range of workers and families and things like that, just by being able to qualify them even with a slightly higher income.” Stegehuis said.

Funding isn’t the only focus of housing organizations, but also policy and restrictions. A common issue is homes being purchased, often by companies, and converted into seasonal housing or Airbnbs. Habitat requires that anyone buying their homes is a year-round resident and won’t be subletting the home.

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Organizations like Housing North have advocated for municipality actions like limiting where and how many vacation rentals are permitted, establishing land trusts and included clauses that require the home to be occupied for most of the year.

While the effort to bring affordable housing to Northern Michigan feels slow, it is not without successes. Officials said there are times when a step forward is followed by a step back, but there has been progress over the years and the efforts to expand housing options in the area continues.

“(There’s) a lot of positive energy behind this and a lot of invested community members really thinking about this issue and really striving to make some progress and create some momentum on this,” Jacobs said. “We are really moving the gears and I think there's so much to be excited about and so much to be looking forward to.”

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

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Affordable housing efforts in the area see successes and setbacks