January 2024 Newsletter

STATEWIDE UPDATES

In the recent State of the State address, Governor Whitmer highlighted the pressing issue of housing affordability in Michigan, emphasizing that many families spend over half their income on rent or mortgage. The Governor acknowledged the aging housing stock, particularly units built before 1970, and recognized the statewide challenges, including in northern Michigan.

The Governor reported progress with double the investment in the past five years compared to the previous eight, resulting in the construction or rehabilitation of 34,000 housing units.

Looking ahead to 2024, the Governor aims to continue this momentum, making the largest investment in Michigan's history—nearly $1.4 billion—to build or rehabilitate almost 10,000 homes, supporting thousands of skilled trade jobs. The Governor emphasized that housing is crucial for building generational wealth and success in various aspects of life, rallying for collaborative efforts to ensure affordable housing for all.

HOUSING READY DIRECTOR UPDATE

HOUSING NORTH UPDATE

HOUSING NORTH ELECTS NEW OFFICERS

Carlin Smith, Emmet County’s representative on the Housing North Board of Directors and a member of the LTBHP Leadership Team, has handed off the gavel after serving two years as the board’s president. Smith is one of the founding board members of the organization now beginning its sixth year. He will remain on the board and on the executive committee as the Past President through 2024. The new President of the board is Josh Mills, the City Superintendent for Frankfort representing Benzie County. Other officers include Vice President Sarah Van Horn representing Charlevoix County, Secretary Sharon Oriel of Leelanau County, and Treasurer Janet Koch of Antrim County.

UNDERSTANDING AFFORDABILITY

So How Much House (or Apartment) Can I Afford in Emmet County?

Industry standards say you can afford a house priced roughly at 3x your annual income and afford a mortgage that is roughly 28% of your monthly income. Similarly, you can afford rent that is roughly 20% of your monthly income if you go cheap, 30% if you go for the norm, or 40% if you splurge. “Roughly” is because other factors such as your location, credit rating, downpayment, interest rates, etc. impact the final cost. Every case is different, but these percentages can give you an idea.

To estimate more precisely what your family can afford, use the “affordability calculator” at Freddie Mac’s How much house can I afford? if you want to buy a house or Understanding what you can afford to rent if you are more interested in renting.

Using incomes in Emmet County as an example:

  • A four-person family with the HUD-estimated median family 2023 income of $87,100 could afford a house worth $261,000 and handle a monthly mortgage payment of $2,032. Or they could afford to pay $1,451-$2,903 in monthly rent depending on their preferences.

  • A two-person family with the HUD- estimated median 2023 income of $66,600 could afford a house worth approximately $200,000 and a monthly mortgage payment of $1,554. Alternatively, they could afford $1,100-$2,220 a month in rent.

The trick in Emmet County, however, is finding available housing to buy or to rent at these prices. The Emmet Realtors Association reports a median 2023 residential sales price of $420,000 while local incomes can afford homes at half that price. Apartment availability is no better given low vacancy rates and units with average rents well above $1,000.

Given this mismatch, it’s no wonder the Housing Needs Assessment recently published by Housing North found that Emmet County will need an additional 865 rental units and 2,505 for-sale units by 2027 to meet demand. The greatest needs are for rental units costing less than$1,665 and for-sale units priced between $221,00 and $332,800. See Housing Data on Housing North’s website for details.

To learn more about how you can help close the gap between what residents can afford and what’s on the market, follow housing news through Housing North or the Little Traverse Bay Housing Partnership and speak up in support of local government policy changes in planning, utilities, and financing that make building needed units more likely.

LOCAL POLICY UPDATES

Substantial investments last year by local governments around Emmet County laid the groundwork for policy changes that have the potential to make housing more plentiful and affordable in our area.

In 2023, Emmet County increased the density allowed in the multi-family residential district (R-2) and approved a Cluster Housing option for certain zoning districts. The County’s Planning Commission also asked staff to review the Zoning Ordinance’s Planned Unit Development-Residential Overlay (PUD-RO) and work on a text amendment to allow density and building height bonuses if developments meet certain standards. The PUD-RO is a special tool established to permit and facilitate a more flexible approach to residential development. As a result of the review, staff shared proposed text with local townships during the second half of last year. The County Planning Commission will hold public hearings and final votes on these amendments in early 2024.

Following a two-year process to update the City of Harbor Springs Master Plan, the City’s Planning Commission undertook a comprehensive review of its Zoning Ordinance in 2023. This review included evaluating possible structural changes, zoning approaches, and diverse types and sizes of homes. The Planning Commission held extensive public consultations on these ideas and is hoping to act on changes that could expand housing options in 2024.

Local jurisdictions that completed updated Master Plans in 2023 include Readmond, Friendship, Resort, and Little Traverse Townships. Notably, Resort Township incorporated more specific goals and objectives for residential development in its revisions. As in Harbor Springs, these new Master Plans provide the foundation for identifying ways the unit of government can revise their zoning ordinances to help achieve their goals regarding affordable housing.

Finally, the City of Petoskey is updating and recertifying itself as a “Redevelopment Ready Community” (RCC) and the Village of Mackinaw City is close to completing its RRC status. Among the elements of being an RRC is identifying priority “redevelopment-ready” sites that are eligible for funding and other resources for development of affordable housing.

ADVOCACY UPDATES

Representatives of the LTBHP frequently attend and testify at Emmet County local government meetings in support of zoning or permitting changes needed to proceed with developments that would increase the number of residential housing units in our area.

  • Recently the Partnership Leadership Team (Andrea Jacobs, Nikki Devitt, Sarah Ford, Susan Hannah, Dough Mantha, Bill Mulder, Carlin Smith, and Sarah Ulrich) sent a letter to the Bear Creek Township and Emmet County Planning Commissions in support of the Walloon Lake Country Club’s proposal to use the recent Cluster Housing option in the County’s Zoning Ordinance to develop employee housing on a site adjacent to the Club. Carlin, Andrea, and Bill also spoke up in support of the proposal during commission meetings. Happily, both bodies approved the Walloon Country Club’s Cluster Housing plan.

  • The Leadership Team also wrote letters of support for applications from Bear Creek Township and Pellston for MSHDA’s recently announced planning grants.

PROJECT UPDATES

Current Housing Projects in Emmet County

HOUSING NORTH STORYTELLING EVENT - REQUEST FOR PITCHES

On April 10th 2024 (6-8 p.m.), Housing North and Here:Say Storytelling are staging a storytelling event titled “Close to Home” at Gypsy Distillery in Petoskey, MI. This show will feature selected performers telling true, first-person stories that celebrate the many meanings of “home.” Click here to learn more about the pitches and stories we welcome you to share.

Unsure if you have a story to tell? Think of stories that you naturally tell in your everyday life – stories that have a beginning and an end, stories draw people in whether they are laughing or crying or feeling really invested in how it turned out. Rather than speeches about your work or memoirs of your journey, look for the story of something important that happened to you. If you are interested but have questions, please email Karen (Kabie) Stein at karen@heresaystorytelling.com.

If you are ready to pitch your story, visit heresaystorytelling.com and select “Housing North/Close to Home” from the drop-down menu. We hope to have pitches in by early February. The 5-6 storytellers selected to perform at this show will engage in a story workshopping process with Kabie.

Housing North, Northwest Michigan’s Rural Housing Partnership, serves ten counties in the region by building awareness, influencing policy, and expanding capacity so communities can create housing solutions

Carlin Smith

REGIONAL COMMUNITIES ARE STARTING TO UTILIZE NEW STATE TOOLS

At its Strategic Planning session last month, the Housing North board members identified helping communities take advantage of new State programs intended to advance housing initiatives as a key opportunity for the organization. Smith noted that “We worked very hard to advocate for the legislation, now we need to be sure our communities are utilizing these opportunities.”

Several Northern Michigan communities are already on board:

  • The City of Traverse City, for example, is an early adopter of the municipal Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program. This program, formerly restricted to HUD or MSHDA projects, allows a unit of government to negotiate a PILOT agreement with a housing developer to reduce costs. The city passed an ordinance to allow PILOTs on new housing or rehabilitation projects that serve households with incomes not greater than 120% of the area median income. Housing North Executive Director Yarrow Brown says that counties as well as cities can take advantage of the PILOT program to encourage affordable housing projects in their jurisdictions.

  • In the City of Frankfort, leaders are using the Attainable Housing Facilities Act to establish housing districts whereby landlords can receive tax incentives to enable renovation and expansion of aging housing properties.

  • Manistee County is working to use the new Neighborhood Enterprise Zone (NEZ) tool that can provide property tax exemptions for the development and rehabilitation of housing within eligible, distressed areas.

  • Antrim County recently approved a “missing middle” housing project in Bellaire using the newly legislated Brownfield Housing Tax increment Financing (TIF) option.

  • Brownfield TIF projects for housing are becoming more and more prevalent and are being used right here in Emmet County to support the housing project proposed for the Michigan Maple Block site in Petoskey.

“As we know, housing projects just don’t pencil out,” Smith said. “Some of these new state programs can be used to bring these projects closer to financial reality,” he added. Smith expects a primary focus of Housing North in 2024 is to help make communities aware of these tools and to provide training on how to access them.

*Phase:

Predevelopment:
In the site plan and construction approval process.

Funding:
Identifying (usually multiple) funding sources.

Building:
Construction is underway

Northern Homes Builds Two New Land Trust Homes In Petoskey

The Northern Homes Community Development Corporation will be offering two newly completed 3-bedroom homes for sale in Petoskey later this spring.  Located at 53 Bridge Street and 54 Fulton Street in Petoskey, the two homes are part of the Northern Homes Community Land Trust (CLT) initiative.  

A CLT is a method for sustaining the long-term affordability of homes available to middle-income families in a community. The CLT can keep prices down over time by retaining ownership of the land while selling the house to an income-qualified household at a reduced price and leasing the land to the buyer. 

CLT homeowners have a long-term ground lease on the house, a regular mortgage, and a share in any profits at resale through the Land Trust. Buyers must meet income restrictions at the time of purchase and complete home-buyer education and a CLT training course offered for free through Northern Homes. 

The two new Petoskey homes will be the 17th and 18th homes to join the Northern Homes Land Trust across its 6-county service region.  The Trust already includes one other home in Petoskey and one sponsored by the Harbor Area Residential Trust (HART) in Harbor Springs.

Andrea Jacobs
andrea@housingnorth.org

Planning is the first, best step toward Housing Readiness. It helps create a shared vision and prepares our communities to be proactive development partners. Normally communities look over their Master Plans every five years and unless something major has changed, make only a few updates.

But to create more housing choice and inventory in our community, we have asked local units of government to use the review process to completely reanalyze their land use maps, priorities and ordinance language for housing readiness.

This kind of thorough review takes time and careful consideration, as well as professional assistance - all of which cost money. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority recognized that such a process is unaffordable for smaller, rural communities and created the Housing Readiness Incentives Grant to help fund these important planning and zoning updates.

Although Emmet County, Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Mackinaw City, Resort Township, and Little Traverse Township are all making major strides toward increased housing choice in their Master Plans and zoning ordinance changes, we still have willing communities that need support. Bear Creek Township will apply for grant assistance as they reopen their Master Plan, identifying a few spots that require a higher resolution design, such as the Mitchell/Division Road intersection. Pellston has recently completed their Master Plan update but will apply for a sub-area plan for their East Village Residential Corridor. With a limited pool of funding to support communities statewide, the Housing Readiness Incentives Grant will be competitive. Fortunately, thanks to having focused on housing for years, Emmet County communities are ready and able to articulate exactly what they need to address their planning challenges. Wish us luck!

Contact Andrea Jacobs at andrea@housingnorth.org for more information about a particular project. The table will be updated regularly on the LTBHP website at www.ltbhp.org.

Northern Homes acquired the two Petoskey lots in 2006, but as Jane MacKenzie, Executive Director for Northern Homes, explains, “It took multiple attempts to design the right project, and find the right grants and financing for the project. With help from Charlevoix State Bank, we applied for a grant from the Federal Homes Loan Bank of Indianapolis, before COVID hit. We were waitlisted for the grant, but it finally came through.”  

Northern Homes then hired a construction team and got to work on two new home designs. To save time, on-site labor, and money, the construction team panelized wall construction and simplified the home layouts. The team began construction in December of 2022 and finished in exactly one year. With two models now successfully completed, Northern Homes intends to use the plans again for future CLT projects.

Northern Homes is planning an Open House for the Bridge and Fulton Street houses later in the Spring so potential buyers and interested community members can see the results for themselves. To learn more, call Northern Homes at (231) 582-6244. For more information about CLT’s in general see https://www.housingnorth.org/community-land-trustsor about HART at https://www.harborarearesidentialtrust.org.

One of the two new homes that are part of the Northern Homes Community Land Trust (CLT) initiative.

A quarterly update from Emmet County Housing Ready Director Andrea Jacobs