How can we work together to find solutions to the lack of middle-income housing?

The nation’s leaders who are involved in housing are hard at work to find solutions to the lack of middle-income housing. There are issues to overcome on all sides–from exclusionary zoning regulations and conservative lending practices to the high cost of develop-able land and sites. Additionally, objections to other than owner-occupied housing, contaminated development sites, lack of developer interest, high construction costs, and lack of available construction labor make for complex situations where creative and innovative solutions are imperative.

• CIB recently completed multi-year Region 6 Housing Development and Implementation Strategies program. Phase one focused on current challenges and barriers to new housing construction, with resulting strategies to overcome the challenges builders face, including the high cost of construction. Phase two focused on implementation steps that can be followed by communities of different sizes to encourage and support new housing development.
• We are currently leading development implementation with the City of Farmington for an abandoned and contaminated former school building in the downtown area. Previous attempts to re-develop the property over the past six years have failed and the CIB Team was retained to evaluate housing development alternatives, establish local financial incentives, and solicit developers.
• CIB was part of the team that was the first to integrate a CEDS and Regional Prosperity Plan into one program, which resulted in the successful Accelerate Plan for the I-96 Thumb Region. Housing was identified as one of the priorities in the plan and implementation efforts continue to focus on the need for more housing options across the region.