By Journal Staff

MARQUETTE — Community Action Alger Marquette has partnered with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to create Michigan’s first-ever Statewide Housing Plan, a five-year initiative “charting priorities, goals and strategies to address the complex challenges impacting housing equity,” officials said in an announcement.

The SHP outlines five statewide housing targets that represent the minimum of what will be accomplished from plan activities, including the preservation and creation of 75,000 affordable housing units, stabilization of 100,000-plus households’ housing, increases in home energy and efficiency in 15,000-plus households and more.

“It was an honor to be a part of the Statewide Housing Plan Partnership Advisory Council to develop a plan with a shared vision in addressing housing issues and needs in both the Upper and Lower peninsulas,” said Michelle LaJoie, executive director of Community Action Alger-Marquette and CEDAM board member, in a statement. “CEDAM and its members look forward to partnering with MSHDA to execute the plan, and ultimately, ensure all Michigan residents have access to stable, quality, affordable housing.”

The plan also outlines eight priority areas, each with its own set of goals, strategies and outcome measures to guide action planning in regions across the state, as well as 37 goals and 134 strategies “to create more robust pathways to safe quality, affordable housing for all Michiganders,” officials said in the announcement.

“CAAM has been instrumental in helping MSHDA understand the myriad barriers and challenges impacting greater accessibility to quality affordable housing for the people of Michigan,” said Tiffany King, MSHDA equity and inclusion officer, in a statement. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to affordable housing, and finding viable solutions requires the involvement and insights from numerous stakeholders like CAAM to ensure we are best addressing the needs of residents in every Michigan community.”

The SHP was created to identify and address the “often-linked social and geographic barriers and inequities historically preventing all Michigan residents from gaining access to affordable housing,” officials said.

For instance, 52% of the state’s homeless population are Black, despite making up only 14% of the overall population, according to officials.

The cost of housing has also risen dramatically over the last several years. Between January 2013 and October 2021, the average sale price for a home in Michigan increased 84%, officials said. Meanwhile, the average number of building permits being awarded for new housing construction is less than half that of pre-Great Recession levels.

Next steps include the creation of a new statewide housing partnership that will work alongside regional groups and Michigan’s Campaign to End Homelessness to meet the goals of the plan. A public dashboard will also be created to report on statewide and regional outcomes.

For more information on the SHP, visit Statewide Housing Plan at https://www.michigan.gov/mshda/developers/statewide-housing-plan.