Supportive housing planned for East Bay Flats

Jordan Travis, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·4 min read

Nov. 19—TRAVERSE CITY — Goodwill Northern Michigan wants to turn workforce apartments in Traverse City into a safety net for chronically homeless people.

The nonprofit is asking the city for a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement on East Bay Flats, a former hotel-turned-apartments.

City commissioners on Monday are expected to consider the 30-year request to pay 4 percent of net rental income; the property is already under a 10 percent PILOT agreement.

Plans are to rent 33 of the building's 67 units to tenants facing homelessness and with a subsidy in hand, such as Housing Choice or Rapid ReHousing vouchers, documents show.

Dan Buron, Goodwill Northern Michigan's CEO, said the long-term goal is to house people earning 60 percent or less of area median income, who are fleeing domestic violence, have a documented disability or are facing homelessness. The nonprofit will seek funding and project-based housing vouchers as well — those stay with the building unlike other types of vouchers.

Along with upgrading windows, the building's boiler and other energy-efficiency updates, plans also call for adding nine more accessible units and a meeting space. The latter is where potential partners like Addiction Treatment Services, Traverse Health Clinic and more could meet with tenants to provide needed support.

"The whole idea of permanent supportive housing is that they will be successful in their housing," Buron said.

The rest of the units would remain at their current rate — $1,236 per month for a one-bedroom apartment — and existing tenants wouldn't have to leave, Buron said. Their leases would be honored and they could renew if they wish. Instead, new tenants would move in as existing ones move out.

Goodwill Northern Michigan wanted to ensure the apartments remain affordable, and part-acquiring the property is a good opportunity to use funds donated by MacKenzie Scott, as the nonprofit pledged it would, Buron said.

Scott made headlines by donating billions to nonprofits in 2020, including $5 million to Goodwill Northwest Michigan.

These 33 units would be a big step toward a goal set by Northern Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness, Executive Director Ashley Halladay-Schmandt said.

The coalition wants to end chronic homelessness by 2028. That would mean bringing what the coalition figures to be 70 people facing chronic homelessness now down to zero.

"East Bay Flats is a big part of that, because we need supportive housing units in order to do that," she said.

So too is Annika Place II, a Woda Cooper Companies development with 52 apartments, according to Halladay-Schmandt and city documents. Nineteen of those units will be permanent supportive housing.

Longer-term plans call for developing an empty lot behind Safe Harbor, an emergency winter homeless shelter at Wellington Avenue and Station Street, into more permanent supportive housing.

Adding 33 units at East Bay Flats would be a significant step toward ending chronic homelessness, Halladay-Schmandt said.

A few things need to happen first, including Goodwill Northern Michigan closing on that property and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority awarding Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Buron said.

Mayor Amy Shamroe said she's supportive of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes request, especially for a key piece in the coalition's five-year strategy. She believes city commissioners understand the important role PILOT agreements play in attacking the problem of homelessness.

"I think this is another big step, and I'm looking forward to us having a bigger conversation to show the public how the pieces all come together when we take actions like this, in conjunction with other actions and other initiatives out there," she said. "I think there's a lot of people doing good work out there right now."

The housing commission converted the Munson Avenue hotel wing into workforce housing — for tenants earning 80 percent or less of area median income — in 2019. Online listings show the current income limits at $62,000 for one person, up to $79,700 for three.

Fifteen units were set aside for young people ages 18 to 24 facing homelessness, or who are at imminent risk of it or facing violence, and Buron said that program would continue.

Great Lakes Capital took over management in 2021, with KMG Prestige to manage East Bay Flats after Goodwill Northern Michigan partly acquires it — the same company manages Riverview Terrace, another housing commission property at Pine and State streets.