Yarrow Brown: A home for the holidays for everyone

Stephanie Shomin, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·4 min read

Dec. 20—Without housing for people in your community, there's no economic development — no new jobs, fewer families, limited services and reduced opportunity. Housing IS economic development.

While enjoying our homes over the holidays, I encourage you to reflect on what you'd do without a home and to experience being housing insecure. This year more people face homelessness or housing insecurity than ever before. We have the opportunity to change this, and make serious traction on this economic development issue.

For those who are housing insecure or experiencing homelessness, we're here to help connect you with resources — and keep this topic at the forefront of everyone's minds. We encourage you to share your story when it feels right. Your voice and experiences are important.

We all have biases and assumptions, and our personal preferences and judgements. Let them go and think outside the box. This is about people, families, seniors, young adults- this is about people who live in your community and deserve a safe and healthy home. It's not about handouts or subsidizing the less fortunate. It's about investing in our community and creative solutions that allow everyone to succeed and have a safe and healthy home. It's impossible to build housing at an affordable rate for many that live and work in our community. This is why we need to provide incentives, tax abatements and rely on philanthropic partners to bring more housing to the region.

Affordability is relative. We don't want anyone to pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Some can afford more. But in general, when you pay more than a third of your income on housing, you become cost overburdened and can't save for vacation or often live paycheck to paycheck. This isn't just about low-income housing or affordable housing. We need housing for everyone, especially those that are experiencing chronic homelessness. Over the last three years we have seen some progress and about 4,000 new housing units built. Many are market rate and single-family homes. We still have to make a lot of progress to meet the needs of our residents. We need at least 11,000 homes in our 10-county region between now and 2024.

Diverse housing and economic development incentives can help a community thrive, with many examples in and outside our country. Many communities suffer due to a lack of housing. But the new bills Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed last week — she signed four very important housing bills into law — will allow local governments to bring in more housing and encourage economic growth. It's huge for our communities. But we need municipalities ready and willing to take on this challenge. It's not a handout, but an investment in your community.

By having housing diversity and providing for everyone in our community, we will see positive and economic benefits. More children in our schools, more services and experience. Our seniors are taken care of and we have childcare and jobs for residents.

We celebrate the many communities leading the effort for more creative housing solutions. They're poised to implement the new tools and we will highlight and share their work through webinars, blog posts and more. We can learn from surrounding communities and collaborate on positive economic growth.

Every week we connect with developers and practitioners wanting to bring more housing to our region, but they face barriers to meet our community's needs. Without teachers there are no schools. Without construction workers there's no development. Without emergency services, how will we survive? If public resources are needed for a housing project that brings more units, we should support this opportunity. Show up at public meetings and advocate for housing, which is economic development. That doesn't mean apartment complexes everywhere. It means opening up infill opportunities, accessory dwelling units or duplexes in new areas. Think outside the box and give everyone an opportunity for a safe and healthy home.

We're fortunate to have three new reports and tools to help guide this work:

1. The zoning reform tool kit recently published by the Michigan Association of Planners.

2. The Pattern Book for New Homes put out by the Michigan Municipal League (MML).

3. A seasonal workforce housing study from Becket and Raider for Networks Northwest.

Links to these documents are on the organizations' websites and Housing North's website. These tools and data can move the needle on housing and show how to support a tourist economy and work to create a balance for year-round housing.

Knowledge is power and understanding the impacts of short-term rentals and the lack of housing options in our community is critical to growing our regional economy.

Yarrow Brown joined Housing North on May 4, 2020. She worked 12 years for the Leelanau Conservancy, 15 years for a non-profit, and did private consulting. She is a member of the Cleveland Township Planning Commission and has represented the Leelanau Conservancy on the Leelanau Clean Water Board for more than a decade. She lives in Leelanau County and owns a 13-acre farm with her husband and daughter.