MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The first-ever central Upper Peninsula housing solutions summit brought Leaders from across the U.P. together on Wednesday to tackle one of the region’s biggest challenges, housing.
It’s no secret that affordable housing is becoming more and more difficult to find in the area. Today’s full-day summit at NMU focused not so much on the problem, but on solutions.
“We’re not here to just rehash that we have a housing shortage. We’ve had plenty of data. We know there’s a challenge, but we also know there are a lot of tools we can deploy, and we need everybody at the table. You can’t just leave it to one person to solve,” said Christopher Germain, CEO of the Lake Superior Community Partnership.
The central U.P. Regional Housing Solutions Summit brought together local officials, developers, financial lenders, employers, and community members, all working toward one goal: expanding housing options and affordability across the region.
“There’s a role for everybody to play, right, and that the housing shortage is solvable if we step up and we really tackle it, but we have to think differently. We have to build in different ways. We have to find new capital resources,” said Germain.
Of major concern is the availability of affordable housing; the inventory is simply not there.
“We have to change the equation, because right now, it is mathematically impossible to build housing that’s affordable to the area median income, at least new housing, right? So if we can’t build new housing, then the question becomes, how do we unlock the existing housing?”, said Germain.
And with new homes out of reach for many, the shortage of existing homes becomes amplified.
“We then either have to build new houses that can be affordable at that range, or we have to find a way to shake out that market. The vacancy rates in all six counties are hovering around 1%, and a healthy vacancy rate is three to five,” said Germain.
Organizers say no single solution will fix the housing crisis, but bringing the right people together is a critical step forward
