A $1.7 billion proposal that would build, retrofit and update homes to make them safer and more energy-efficient has a wide array of support across Michigan’s business, environmental and housing industries, but so far, no political support.
The MI Affordable, Healthy Homes proposal seeks to use federal and state funds to pay for $1 billion in home upgrades and repair, as well as $500 million for new construction and rehab. But Charlotte Jameson, the chief policy officer for the Michigan Environmental Council, said no legislators have yet signed on board — though, she said, there is bipartisan interest in the plan.
“There’s still a lot up in the air with the budget,” she said. “There are a lot of negotiations left to happen.”
The proposal, announced Thursday, would complement a statewide housing plan that was due to be released Wednesday, said Todd Newick, the senior director of sustainability policy for the National Housing Trust, but was delayed. The broad strokes of that plan calls for efforts to make homelessness brief and rare, the stabilization of 100,000 households, the addition of 39,000 affordable rental units and 21,500 owner- and renter-occupied market-rate units and upgrades to improve home energy efficiency for 15,000 households.
“We’ve got to do something, folks,” said Jason Cole, executive director of the Michigan Minority Contractors Association.
The money would help spur additional investment in housing, the advocates said, as rising construction costs and rising prices make adequate housing unattainable for many.
The proposal includes money for weatherization, the addition of solar panels, lead and asbestos abatement and retrofitting homes for all-electric appliances, in addition to the construction of new affordable housing.
“It’s not going to get us all the way there,” Jameson said of the proposal. “I expect more will be needed. The need is great.”
Representatives from the state did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding how the proposal aligns with efforts to fund the statewide housing plan that is still being developed.