A five-year housing assessment conducted in 2023 was very telling for Muskegon city leaders.
“We at the time had about 14,700 total housing units in the city and it indicated a gap over the next five years from 2023 to 2027 of about 2,924 housing units. Of those, about half of them needed to be affordable units.”
Jake Eckholm, Director of Development Services, worked with developers to secure Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the state Housing Development Authority for six major projects so far.
“Nelson Elementary School, there is a project called Lofts of Muskegon and then there's a project called Amity Commons in addition to Alan Crossing and Froebel - they account for just about 300 affordable apartment units so we're putting a really big dent in that need for affordable rental housing.”
Others are taking note of Muskegon’s progress.
“We actually just recently had officials from Buena Vista Township over here from the Saginaw area to take a look at some of our zoning reform and in-fill housing.”
Eckholm credits success so far to those zoning reforms and housing-forward policies.
“There is a huge need in West Michigan. Ours was one of the most drastic that's been studied and so we really had to put our best foot forward on some policy changes to get this kind of success that we've been seeing.”
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