There’s much more on Michigan’s Nov. 5 election ballot than the presidential and U.S. Senate races. At Michigan Public, we’re highlighting some local ballot measures from across the state.
In Ingham County, one of those ballot items is a proposed millage that would keep a pandemic era housing initiative alive.
Alan Fox is the Ingham County treasurer and also leads the Housing Trust Fund. He spoke with Michigan Public Morning Edition host Doug Tribou.
Doug Tribou: The Housing Trust Fund was created in 2021 using $9 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to invest in affordable housing development. How wide is the scope of the housing shortage in Ingham County and what are some of the main causes?
Alan Fox: Well, we're seeing a shortage of about 7,500 units in Ingham County as of now. There are new jobs coming to the area — actually just outside of Ingham County in Delta Township — both a new battery plant and new Amazon facility. And they're probably going to add the need for 5,000 additional housing units. Lansing has the biggest need, but the entire region needs probably more than 12,000 new housing units in the next ten years.
"Lansing has the biggest need, but the entire region needs probably more than 12,000 new housing units in the next ten years."Ingham County Treasurer Alan Fox
DT: Last year the Housing Trust Fund awarded $2.5 million in grants to create 128 new affordable housing units, and rehabilitated 20 existing rental units in the county. Could you give us an update on where those projects stand?
AF: Yeah, a lot of what we did was to put money into projects that had other sources of money. That's the difficulty with building affordable housing now is that it takes layer after layer of money from different sources. So a critical step was to put money into the rehabilitation of the old Walter French Junior High School in Lansing. Those housing units, which are directed at fairly low-income people, are slated to open very soon.
We've also put money into building row houses on major streets in Lansing. Lansing, like a lot of cities in Michigan, never really got a lot of dense housing along our corridors. And there's a need for that now. That's the efficient way to add more housing. And so we're trying to build those back up as commercial corridors, as well as housing corridors.
DT: Well, I hear you mentioning several thousand homes could be needed as these new employers come to the region. And then we're talking about projects that are 100 [units] here, 20 there. Do you feel optimistic that there's a way to bridge that gap?
AF: Well, the reality is that it's going to take a lot of money from a lot of sources. And what we see Ingham County doing is not just going out and building stuff. If we just use that [millage funding] as the full cost of building housing units, we really wouldn't make much of a dent.
But we'll use it to train existing people in the business, particularly minority and immigrant community developers, how the system works so that they can get access to state and federal money. We will use it to support down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. And we're also going to do something that the Housing Trust Fund has not put a lot of effort and time into yet, which is to try to deal with some of the critical needs of unhoused people in Lansing.
"The critical piece is making that money bring in additional money, and making it create a long-term prospect for work to get done in the area."Ingham County Treasurer Alan Fox
DT: The millage would cost $0.50 for every thousand dollars in taxable property value. Do you have a sense of what that would mean for a typical homeowner in Ingham County?
AF: Well, $0.50 per thousand dollars of value translates to $50 for a $100,000 taxable value. That's above average for a property in Ingham County. We estimate that the total need in Ingham County is probably about $4 billion — with a "B." So the $9 million that we started with is a drop in the bucket. The millage will bring in about $5 million a year, so that's also a drop in the bucket. The critical piece is making that money bring in additional money and making it create a long-term prospect for for work to get done in the area.
DT: Have you seen or heard any pushback against the millage in the run up to the election?
AF: We haven't. I've heard some concerns from the rural parts of the county that the money gathered not all be spent in Lansing. And I've committed to making sure that the needs of the rural areas are met, as well as the needs in Lansing.
Editor's note: Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full interview near the top of this page.
