We want more than kneecaps—we want housing legalized!

Housing affordability is a policy choice. The reason Michigan has fallen to 33rd in housing affordability is bad laws make it impossible to build the housing we need.

We have a shortage of 120,000 units and counting – Here’s how we go downfield and make the touchdown on housing.

Our Gameplan:

Upzoning: Stop banning housing

Current zoning laws flat-out ban housing across our cities. We need to legalize more housing.

Here is a map of Traverse City’s zoning.

Yellow, Yellow-Brown-Plaid, and Brown is where it’s legal to build housing, but only Yellow-Brown Plaid and Brown is where it’s legal to build anything other than detached single-family homes, ADUs, and duplexes. Traverse City is not unique in that in almost every city in America, it is illegal to build the housing we need in 60-90% of the land area.

We need all kinds of housing including apartments, triplexes and quadplexes, townhomes and apartments-above-storefronts. It’s time we legalize them!

Reform the Permit Process

Millions of taxpayer and investment dollars are burnt every year on long, opaque, and unnecessary approval processes. By making them clear and streamlined, we could unlock thousands of housing units that people already want to build, that investors are ready to fund, and that workers are ready to put shovels in the ground for.

As something of an extreme example, there is a proposed development in East Grand Rapids that could have provided 400 housing units… 20 years ago. It is still in an approval process and has lowered its target to around 140 units.

Make housing possible by getting rid of bad requirements

Even if housing is technically legal and the permit process is streamlined, housing developments may still be required to do things that make the whole project unfeasible, so it never materializes.

Despite these requirements not having any basis in safety, building codes or fire codes, many cities require:

• Massive lot sizes
• Larger dwelling space sizes than necessary
• Converting land into more parking instead of housing
• Buildings to be smaller than they could be
• And many, many more arbitrary requirements

Our Opponents

Anti-Everything NIMBYs:

Not In My Back Yard — people who oppose any changes (real or imagined) to their community. It’s an understandable impulse to want your town to stay the way you like it, but not only can change be nurtured to be better, the laws that try to make change impossible are also the laws that make the housing we need impossible to build. We need more housing, and banning our communities from building that housing is a losing strategy.

Local Controllers:

There is a natural impulse to want local government to have the most say in housing, but the problem is when control of any kind goes too far. Local governments should establish clear goals, transparent processes, and echo local concerns for externalities and infrastructure needs, but the problem is when their powers arbitrarily go far beyond that to make housing impossible.

Bad Politics:

Making more housing for more Michiganders is not a Red-Team Blue-Team issue — it’s a benefit for all of us. That’s why it’s important that we don’t reduce it to being a one-party issue. It’s pro-freedom, pro-business, pro-family just as much as it’s pro-equality, pro-opportunity, and pro-Michigan. A win in housing is a win for all of us and both the Republicans and Democrats in the House, Senate and the Governor’s Office should feel that.

MVPs: Who’s on the Field?

City Councils

Outside of some major metropolitan areas, your city council will be the ones who make the real decisions on zoning, local ordinances, and approving development projects. They need to know that you support more housing, or they need to be replaced by someone who will fight for more housing.

The State Government

Local governments get their power to regulate housing from the State. A package of bills that will legalize much more housing is coming soon in the House, will need to go to the Senate, and then be signed by the Governor.

Abundant Housing Michigan

We are a State-level 501(c)4 non-profit organization advocating for the policy changes we need to unlock housing in Michigan. We work with a cross-partisan coalition of organizations and grassroots groups to push for much needed change.

Follow us at @abundanthousingMI and at abundanthousingMI.com, as well as email us at contact@abundanthousingMI.com

Read out policy agenda here: AHM’s Policy Agenda

Scoring Drive: How to Take Action:

1. Sign up for our newsletter:
2. Show up to important council meetings where you can make your voice heard. IT MATTERS A LOT!
3. Tell your legislators in Lansing that you support legalizing housing.
4. Get your friends and family involved — housing affects all of us and even if you’re not super into politics, everyone should get involved to make Michigan a better place to live, work, play, and raise a family.