“If you can't afford $500,000, you're screwed.”
Sable Homes President John Bitely says regulations, permitting delays and rising costs are limiting homeownership opportunities in Michigan, but mindset has an impact too.
“Let's be honest, when somebody hears ‘affordable housing,’ what's the first thing they think of? Most of the time they think of government subsidies, they think of crime, they think of challenging situations. Affordable housing, technically is described as: if you spend more than 30% of your income for housing, it's not affordable to you.”
This month, more than 1,100 housing advocates and the National Association of Home Builders urged Congress to reform regulatory barriers that add an average of more than $130,000 to the cost of a new single-family home.
Bitely says local zoning regulations are key but local leadership often pushes back against development for lower-income families.
“There's also a lot of communities that want nothing to do with it. There's a number of communities that are doing things to block higher densities. And some of them are just flat admitting that they only want to be a community for the elite.”
Bitely advocates for tiny homes or Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) which can be built for $125,000 but says most local communities ban them.
“Our society has to decide. It's easy to give lip service to affordable houses, but nobody's making the tough decisions to allow them to happen. And so far, they continue to be blocked.”
Bitely is working with state lawmakers to address these challenges.
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