Michigan asks employers to grow housing with $10M fund: 'Build, baby, build'

• Michigan will partner with local governments, businesses to expand permanent and rental housing builds throughout $10 million fund
• Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made the announcement Friday, saying the state is creating 14 new jobs for every one housing unit built
• Businesses can begin applying for the funds starting next month.

LANSING — Michigan will begin partnering with businesses to try to grow affordable employee housing options and chip away at the state’s ongoing housing crisis, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Friday. 

During an address at the Northern Michigan Policy Conference in Traverse City, which is grappling with a housing squeeze of its own, Whitmer said the state is “creating jobs a lot faster than we’re building housing,” with about one unit added for every 14 jobs created between 2014 to 2023.

“If we want people to move to communities for work, they need affordable places to call home,” she said. “The Employer-Assisted Housing Fund tackles this challenge head on.”

The $10 million fund, which comes from previous state budget appropriations, will be administered by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). 

The agency will distribute the funds to eligible employers investing in local housing for workers, be that through land donation or ground lease, down payment assistance or outright real estate development.

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In return for matching funds from the state, the housing in question must remain “affordable” for at least 10 years if it is a rental and at least five years if it is for-sale housing. MSHDA is expected to release additional details about income eligibility and rent limits next month.

Applications to access the fund will open Feb. 24, with additional information available on the MSHDA website. Applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis, and must include an employer contribution — be that donated land, cash, a below market interest loan or another contribution as approved by the state.

Lisa McComb, executive director of the Otsego County Economic Alliance, told Bridge Michigan the governor’s announcement was a welcome one. She estimated her county in northern Michigan, which includes Gaylord, currently needed about 700 more housing units, both single-family and rentals. 

That’s due in part to the number of businesses coming into the county, McComb said, including an Amazon distribution center, Menards home improvement store and the Lake State Railway Company, which has lines running through the region.

Without additional housing, McComb said it can be “very difficult” to entice additional businesses to site in the area, especially when workers may be seasonal. 

“The workforce is there, they commute within 90 miles, but they don’t have anywhere to live,” she said. “It’s making a huge impact on our existing employers.” 

While the Whitmer administration has increased spending on affordable housing initiatives, the state needs roughly 141,000 additional units to meet demand, the governor said. 

Businesses investing in Michigan housing stock isn’t a new phenomenon. Whirlpool Corp., a home appliance business headquartered in Benton Charter Township, won state subsidies to open an 80-unit, Benton Harbor-based apartment complex in 2023, now known as the Emma Jean Hull Flats.

While the apartments are available for anyone to lease, tenants are required to be permanent Benton Harbor residents for at least one year. Other units in the complex are specifically reserved for public service workers, such as first responders or teachers. 

Whitmer mentioned the Whirlpool project by name when referencing how the new housing fund could work in Michigan communities. 

MSHDA also noted efforts by Short’s Brewing Co. in Bellaire — which purchased a local hotel for employee housing — and the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow, a Lansing hospital that recently donated nine local homes to the Ingham County Land Bank and Habitat for Humanity Capital Region. 

“Without a strong base of talent, businesses can't grow. Without a growing population, local governments can't get resources to plow snow or fix roads and improve schools — housing hits everything,” Whitmer said. 

“If we don't face the crisis head on, it's going to continue to hamstring our economy. … Build, baby, build has been kind of our call to action.”

It’s a sentiment shared by others in the state, like Ed Ness, president and CEO of Munson Healthcare, who called housing “a critical component of the recruitment and retention of healthcare workers in Northern Michigan.”

“We welcome Governor Whitmer’s announcement of additional resources to support efforts to maintain and grow our healthcare workforce, and look forward to learning more about these new tools,” he added.

Amy Hovey, MSHDA’s chief executive officer and executive director, said in a statement following Whitmer’s announcement that the fund is part of “strategic investments to align housing development with our state’s needs, job creation and population growth” as already outlined in a statewide housing plan. 

“The new Employer-Assisted Housing Fund will allow us to build on that success and create even more opportunities for Michiganders,” Hovey said.