(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/28/2024) (MACKINAC ISLAND) – Michigan State Housing Development Authority Director Amy Hovey said the state needs a little more than 140,000 units, 50,000 fewer than the number of new housing units the authority said was needed last year at this time.
Speaking to MIRS at the Detroit Regional Chamber 2024 Michigan Policy Conference, Hovey said she's not sure the new numbers accurately capture the number of people who want a home, but can't buy one. Some folks may be living with their parents or a relative. Some may be itching to buy, but simply can't find something affordable in this tight housing market.
She said evictions were on the rise, but that wasn’t a surprise because they had seen them tick up after the funding helping people during the COVID-19 pandemic from the federal government dried up.
“We’re doing what we can,” she said.
She said to do more they would need an influx of money from the federal government, and that would drive down the eviction rate.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Ann Arbor Councilmember Linh Song, and Communities First Inc. Co-Founder Glenn Wilson all echoed Hovey in her call for more funding from the federal government to deal with housing during the Solving Michigan’s Housing Crisis panel at the Grand Hotel Tuesday.
During the panel, Hovey said she was asked by a reporter earlier in the day if housing could end up being an issue that impacts the 2024 presidential race. She said she told the reporter that she didn’t see it, because it wasn’t an issue being raised by anyone.
“But it should, because housing is so foundational to the success of this country,” Hovey said.
One of the items she said could help the housing crisis would be for flexible spending that could act more like Play-Doh and fill in more gaps that are needed. She gave the example of being able to use one pot of money from either rental, homeownership, or creating new homes, instead of having the money earmarked for only those issues.
“Just let it be broad enough that we can use it wherever we set the markets demanding to be used the most effectively,” she said.
She said there are bills that MSHDA was looking to pass that had been stalled in the Legislature for two or three years.
“Please just give us what we need to be able to meet those needs. Let us increase our single-family mortgage limits. Looking at a 2009 level in 2024 is ridiculous. It should be an easy rule to pass. Please just put it on the floor and pass it,” she said.
While talking about the federal government, Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), who moderated the panel, also pointed to Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint), who was in the crowd, as someone who could help on the federal side with the housing crisis.
Kildee, in an interview with MIRS, said there were several programs on the federal level that could be given more money through the budget, such as the Housing and Urban Development’s HOME program that offers block grants to state and local governments to create affordable housing for low-income people.
He said support for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit would “supercharge” filling the gap that exists between what developers need to spend and what the developers need to charge when it comes to actually building the housing.
He also mentioned the federal government needed to put more money into the Federal Housing Trust, which would give stability in funding called for by the panelists across the board.
“In my view, the next big thing the federal government should be doing is housing. We did the manufacturing. We did the clean energy. We did the infrastructure," he said.
He said they needed to “crack the code” on housing because all the funding was starting to get to the states, but the housing problem was rearing up.
“It’s hard for a community to take advantage of it if they can’t locate people close to the work,” he said.
He also said it would be another bipartisan issue that should be able to unite Democrats and Republicans.
“The housing challenges cut across the spectrum,” Kildee said.
