Housing Next’s first annual West Michigan Housing Summit gives community stakeholders, policymakers, and developers an opportunity to move beyond conversation toward coordinated action on the region’s most pressing housing challenges.
“We’ve got a great turnout. We’re sold out today, so very clearly this is something that people are interested in and want to be a part of.”
Jen Radaz is Senior Manager for Housing Next, a West Michigan nonprofit removing barriers to housing supply and increasing affordability at all income levels.
“We still have a long way to go. We’re still permitting about half as many housing units as we were in the 1990’s, and yet we continue to grow as a region.”
Ryan Kilpatrick is owner of Flywheel Community Development Consultants and lead consultant for Housing Next. He says West Michigan communities are making it easier to build a greater variety of housing, but there’s more work to be done.
“We’ve got to create neighborhoods that people really love being in, and so it’s got to be a neighborhood that the existing residents feel represents their needs and their desires, and that is attracting new residents.”
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