A northwest Michigan housing project is set to receive three-hundred-thousand dollars for a “Housing Readiness Program” in the state’s new 2024 budget.
The non-profit Housing North helps local governments work through the bureaucracy of developing new housing.
Now, one-time funds worth $300,000 will allow the group to add staff and serve all 10 of its counties.
Currently they have the capacity to serve only four.
Yarrow Brown is the executive director of Housing North. She says they’ll do things like offering administrative support for zoning reforms in rural townships.
"But then also helping to connect developers, both nonprofit and for-profit developers with the right opportunities that would help build the housing that they're looking to build," said Brown.
Brown acknowledges getting affordable housing built will take years.
But she says she hopes by this time next year several development projects will be underway.
"Not only do you have to get the housing ready," said Brown. "You have to get the communities ready and then navigate and find the right developer, but there's still a significant cost and a lot of gaps in our housing projects."
