MARQUETTE, MI— The Lake Superior Community Partnership is holding an online summit addressing housing needs in Marquette County.
LSCP CEO Sarah Lucas says the reasons for the lack of affordable housing go back years. First, construction slowed way down after the Great Recession. The region now has an aging population needing smaller households, millennials want to buy their own homes, and empty nesters are looking to downsize. Lucas says recently, people who were able to work remotely relocated to the area or to different part of the area, especially when COVID hit. But she adds the cost of building materials has skyrocketed lately, making construction almost cost prohibitive.
“Particularly for starter homes, workforce housing, affordable housing—just any moderately priced housing is really difficult to build while still actually making a profit. And that’s why we see, there’s actually activity, construction activity around higher-end housing, but not so much for anything else.”
Officials need to arrive at a solution to the housing crisis from a number of angles, Lucas says.
“One is to think about how we’re building, what types of housing are actually allowed, and think about making it easier to build the types of housing that is more affordable and frankly more in demand right now.”
That includes multi-family housing, like apartments and townhomes. Lucas says some regulations may need to be changed and residents’ attitudes may also need to be tweaked.
“Those are the kinds of things that… might come up against some barriers in terms of regulation that prohibit those types of development or against community opposition from neighbors that don’t really want that kind of housing in their community or in their back yard.”
Lucas says municipalities also need to find ways to offset the costs of development so it’s more affordable for families and the workforce.
The LSCP is holding an online Marquette County Housing Solutions Summit Wednesday from 1 to 4 p.m. and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration information is at www.marquette.org.
