Michigan’s Housing Development Authority approved new employer-assisted housing projects in Detroit and Kalamazoo, tapping the remaining money in a state fund that supports the program but is running low. The projects approved last month total $3.2 million and are expected to drain the balance of a $10 million Employer-Assisted Housing Fund Gov. Gretchen Whitmer unveiled in January 2025.
The state’s funding approach links employer contributions to grants, and then requires the resulting housing to remain affordable for at least 10 years if it is a rental property and at least five years if it is for-sale housing. State data as of January indicates the assisted housing fund has helped create a total of 619 rental units or homes, including 232 units specifically for employer-assisted housing.
Michigan officials said employers have contributed beyond the state’s original match. The program included $10 million put up by the state, and employers have exceeded that match rate, putting forward an estimated $11.7 million in cash or land offerings. Under the fund’s structure, employers apply for grant dollars that then must be matched by either a cash or land donation of equal value.
The Detroit project approved by the MSHDA board involves Detroit Affordable Homes 1, LLC. State records say the authority approved $1.21 million in matching funds on Dec. 18 for a plan to build 12 for-sale employee housing units on vacant residential lots within the city, with construction expected to be completed in collaboration with corporate and community partners that state housing officials did not explicitly name. Documentation from the December MSHDA board meeting said “multiple Detroit area employers will provide… matching contributions to support the developments.”
The Detroit units will be restricted to households with incomes at or below 120% of the area median income. For a family of four in Wayne County, the program’s income limit at 120% AMI is described as $121,200. The project will also use a Colorado-based company, Alquist, for 3D concrete printing used in both the external and internal framing of houses. The company’s materials describe it as having completed the first owner-occupied 3D printed home in the world in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg in Virginia in December 2021.
In Kalamazoo, the state approved $2.5 million in matching funds for a project backed by Bronson Methodist Hospital. State documents describe Bogan Asset Management, LLC’s plan as a five-story building “blocks from downtown Kalamazoo and adjacent to the hospital,” including affordable workforce housing plus a commercial space on the first floor. Officials expect the project to include approximately 84 residential units, with at least 20 earmarked as employer-assisted housing units, and state documents say the units will be restricted to incomes at or below 120% of the area median income, which for a family of four in Kalamazoo is at most $2,874 in rent.
The approvals arrive amid uncertainty over whether legislators will replenish the Employer-Assisted Housing Fund. Lawmakers did not include additional money for the fund in the state budget approved in October, even though the Whitmer administration supports the program. Amy Hovey, the executive director of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, told Bridge Michigan that she doesn’t know what lawmakers’ appetite is, adding that the lack of new funding may be a “bump in the road” for the larger effort.
Katie Bach, a spokesperson for the housing development authority, said in an email that the “demand is there, and the need is real,” and that the key issue is identifying the resources to scale the program.
The board has already directed some of the fund’s money to other parts of the state before the remaining $3.2 million balance was allocated to Detroit and Kalamazoo. Prior to those moves, the board approved a $1.4 million investment on Oct. 16 for builds in Battle Creek and Newberry. For Battle Creek, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, working on behalf of the community, the city’s economic development corporation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, received $1 million in matching grant funding to create a Battle Creek-specific Housing Development Fund aimed at investing in attainable housing development projects with local and emerging developers.
State officials said the Battle Creek fund is expected to yield 40 total units, all priced at or under 120% of area median income, and described the 120% AMI benchmark for a family of four in Calhoun County as $98,280. Hovey told Bridge Michigan that the Battle Creek build is “a little bit different” than anything done so far, and said more information will be available in February, describing an approach in which businesses pool money and then the state authority matches and helps deploy that group contribution into housing projects.
In Newberry, the state housing authority approved $400,000 to match a $466,500 donation of both cash and land by Pine Stump Property Holdings, LLC. The project is expected to produce four new rental units reserved for the current and future employees of the full-service bar and restaurant Pine Stump Junction and for employees of Pine Stump Property Holdings, LLC. The units will target incomes at or below 120% of area median income, which the state described as at most $2,457 in rent for a family of four in Luce County.