MARQUETTE — The Lake Superior Community Partnership hosted the first meeting of its Breakfast and Business quarterly series Friday at the Ramada Inn in Marquette. The event gave community members and local stakeholders a chance to learn about a new housing Target Market Analysis and the LSCP’s Housing Strategic Framework.

“We think it’s important that you understand what’s being done behind the scenes to address this issue,” said Christopher Germain, CEO of the LSCP.

For the first time since it was adopted in November, Germain presented the LSCP’s Housing Strategic Framework to the public. This framework consists of six goals focusing on collaborating with economic partners, maintaining data to facilitate decision making, supporting streamlined decision making for site plans and permits, promoting financial incentives, supporting small-scale developers and educating the community on housing issues. A full document of the Strategic Framework will be available online soon.

Germain then presented data from the approximately 300 pages of the new target market analysis, which is designed to provide up-to-date data on the housing market. The TMA was developed for the LSCP by a consultant from July to January.

The TMA’s demographic and real estate analysis demonstrates the maximum numbers for what the local market can handle in terms of new housing. It also includes trends on average price per square foot, age of housing, number of approved housing permits, distribution of housing types, vacancy rates and median rents.

The market potential data for the TMA consists of three sets: capturing new households that are otherwise temporary, maintaining existing households that are otherwise leaving and intercepting households that are otherwise bypassing Marquette County.

Germain discussed the annual market potential for new builds in the county and explained how residents are divided into 71 “lifestyle clusters” determined by factors such as their income, age, education and interests. These clusters are used to predict the demand for different types of new housing.

Germain also emphasized the impact that college students have on local housing, as they make up one of the largest lifestyle clusters in the area.

The TMA was funded for $88,000, some of which is left over after the project itself for implementation.

“That’s the end goal, is more housing, and it starts with understanding what’s actually happening and what the potential is,” Germain said. “And that’s what the TMA has now given us, something we just didn’t have before.”

Germain then moderated a panel made up of Anne Giroux, Marquette County Land Bank Authority director and the county’s finance manager, Alyssa Arwood, real estate development manager for JM Longyear Real Estate Development and Ryan Soucy, senior planner at the Central U.P. Planning and Development Regional Commission.

Germain first asked the panel members what they see as the biggest challenges to creating more housing. All three individuals agreed that the cost of building is the “number one challenge” but also cited issues such as the need to educate the public on housing developments, “not in my back yard” syndrome and developers’ lack of knowledge on what the local housing market can bear.

The next question focused on what tool or policy panel members think is most underutilized when it comes to creating more housing. Giroux said there is a need for better code enforcement programs to rehabilitate existing housing, Arwood remarked on the importance of proper zoning and planning and Soucy mentioned a former housing subsidy program called the Missing Middle, which was successful but has not been reintroduced.

Germain and the panel then fielded several questions from the audience before discussing major takeaways from the presentation to share with others. Giroux advised people to contact and collaborate with Antonio Adan, Marquette County’s recently appointed housing specialist. Arwood praised local developers that are “not here for a quick buck” and Soucy asked individuals to familiarize themselves with the Central U.P. Region Housing Partnership Action Plan, an initiative of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

Germain ended the session with a call to action and further encouragement for participants to share what they had learned with their fellow community members.

“It’s all about building units, it’s not just about talking about housing anymore,” he said. “We have to move from that phase into action and that’s only going to happen if we all step up.”

The LSCP will hold three more Breakfast and Business meetings this year, on April 26, July 26 and Oct. 25. For more information, visit the LSCP website at https://marquette.org/.