The "Affordable Housing" Discussion in GR

[grandrollerz]

https://grbj.com/news/government/city-seeks-applicants-for-affordable-housing-board/?utm_campaign=Newsletter - GRBJ Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=180410372&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8h7oDWwjhLkIdkT75Srz55JLlUgauStaFN0-1Gcqx1nmYeQS9iWKaoTtEs7C84L5TD3qP8dALzJZP8d-IHmin-dKapsQ&utm_content=180410372&utm_source=hs_email

City seeks applicants for affordable housing board

Edited November 13, 2021 by grandrollerz

[joeDowntown]

Eenhorn bought 234 Market, wants to make 20% of the building affordable housing. Call me a skeptic, but is this a case where a developer is chasing after tax credits? 

https://mibiz.com/sections/real-estate-development/new-owner-eyes-more-affordable-housing-units-after-purchasing-234-market-for-50m

Joe

[wingbert]

15 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Eenhorn bought 234 Market, wants to make 20% of the building affordable housing. Call me a skeptic, but is this a case where a developer is chasing after tax credits? 

https://mibiz.com/sections/real-estate-development/new-owner-eyes-more-affordable-housing-units-after-purchasing-234-market-for-50m

Joe

I guess it depends on how genuine you think Eenhorn is when they say their business is driven by a “passion and pledge” to address GR housing issues vs. say, a commitment to earning solid returns for their investors.  Or, perhaps those two things aren’t mutually exclusive?  If true, it’s a noble cause.

[GRDadof3]

23 hours ago, wingbert said:

I guess it depends on how genuine you think Eenhorn is when they say their business is driven by a “passion and pledge” to address GR housing issues vs. say, a commitment to earning solid returns for their investors.  Or, perhaps those two things aren’t mutually exclusive?  If true, it’s a noble cause.

Didn't Eenhorn get busted for trying to do something similar with Plaza Towers?

Well it was something odd:

 

https://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/2017/03/is_this_influential_landlord_u.html

[walker]

Not a game changer as they say but it's seventeen new apartments in a part of town that hasn't seen much development:

MLIVE: aging-grand-rapids-building-would-be-transformed-into-low-income-housing-city-plans-show

I'm not sure what's in the building now other than the Seymore Branch Post Office on the ground floor.  I think at one time there were offices on the second floor.  I know that at one time there was a woman who manufactured historic dress patterns that had her office and workshop up there.  That was a long time ago and she's not there now. 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by walker

[GRDadof3]

14 hours ago, walker said:

Not a game changer as they say but it's seventeen new apartments in a part of town that hasn't seen much development:

MLIVE: aging-grand-rapids-building-would-be-transformed-into-low-income-housing-city-plans-show

I'm not sure what's in the building now other than the Seymore Branch Post Office on the ground floor.  I think at one time there were offices on the second floor.  I know that at one time there was a woman who manufactured historic dress patterns that had her office and workshop up there.  That was a long time ago and she's not there now. 

 

Great reuse for a commercial building. 

[walker]

MLIVE: rescue-mission-plans-tiny-home-community-in-grand-rapids

Not sure what I think of this tiny homes idea.  

Quote

the homes would each be between the size of 240-480 square feet.

The typical single wide  mobile home is 500 - 1200 square feet.  Might be easier and roomier for Mel Trotter to just build a trailer park somewhere. 

EDIT: I'm guessing this is where they are proposing to do this - between Garden Street and the CSX railroad tracks:

A good location for a warehouse I think, not so good for housing.

Edited October 6, 2022 by walker

[whitemice]

On 10/6/2022 at 5:56 PM, walker said:

A good location for a warehouse I think, not so good for housing.

No, it is the north side of Garden St.

It has already been through the Planning Comission, all the docs & such @ http://grandrapidscitymi.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=6570&MediaPosition=&ID=19157&CssClass=

I believe the "tiny home" [actually merely small home by traditional standards] argument is that mobile homes have no value and these as fixed structures will have value (I'm not saying one way or the other, but that's the intersection of economics, culture, & codes).   For me it is simply: why the hell can't someone build these if they want to?  There is no legitimate reason for the city to require any special anything.  The city should get the $@&*^ out of the way, they should stop paying "expert" staff to write justifications for this arbitrary nonsense.

[whitemice]

RPOA's podcast episode 361 features Michele Williams (aka: Ms. Tiny) of Dirt To Keys (ADU Specialists) talking about small-scale development and housing lower-case-a affordability. It is a bit thin on substance, yet nice to hear a leader speaking in a local [Grand Rapids, MI] context. Also provides, via the host's comments, the narrative which "developers" receive from the city vs. rules which apply to every day citizens (and small time developers).
https://rpoaonline.org/podcasts/725ca5f5-98d5-420a-9972-dd9f9cb21b54/

She mentions that her website dirttokeys.com will be available "soon". At this point the website is already up. The ADU cost estimator feels pretty spot on for a ballpark number.

[grandrollerz]

I really like this idea. not sure why ADUs seem to be so hard to catch on...is it branding? ADU sounds pretty sterile. There are a bunch of lots in Heritage Hill that are large enough for ADUs, but would HH allow a modern looking ADU, or would it have to fit the style of the neighborhood? if so, that's lame.  A cool glass/steel block on a old timey lot would look cool imho.  I need to learn more about ADUs I think. one thing I thought when I look at the lots that would seem to be big enough for an ADU is....what about parking?! LOL.  A lot of the HH lots have parking for 4-5 cars on the land where I would imagine an ADU to sit.  Like this example. I think this block is a good example of large lots where you could squeeze in a bunch of ADUs.

[joeDowntown]

IIRC, the city has made it nearly impossible to build ADUs, even though they act like they are pro ADU. 

Joe

[whitemice]

On 12/2/2022 at 8:47 AM, grandrollerz said:

There are a bunch of lots in Heritage Hill that are large enough for ADUs

No way you are going to build on in Heritage Hill.  The association and the preservation people, forget about it.  Someone would be crazy to even try.

On 12/2/2022 at 8:47 AM, grandrollerz said:

what about parking?!

The parking requirements imposed by the city's arbitrary regulations (aka Zoning) are definitely a problem.  However I suspect it is mostly The Process and the Owner-Occupancy requirement; combined they make it intimidating, confusing, and risky.

On 12/2/2022 at 12:00 PM, joeDowntown said:

the city has made it nearly impossible to build ADUs, even though they act like they are pro ADU

Even right now, with the upcoming Master Plan redraft, they are going around saying how they've already made building ADUs by-right.  It is infuriating,  our current Planning staff is dishonest.  Argh.

[cstonesparty]

On 12/3/2022 at 2:13 PM, whitemice said:

Even right now, with the upcoming Master Plan redraft, they are going around saying how they've already made building ADUs by-right.  It is infuriating,  our current Planning staff is dishonest.  Argh.

I seem to recall that one of the regulars on here built an ADU...  was that you, WhiteMice?

[Khorasaurus1]

While it's definitely true that ADU regulations frequently end up being "of course you can do that! Just follow this list of a couple dozen byzantine rules!" as an attempt to compromise between the NIMBYs and the housing activists, there's also an economic problem with building them in GR. While rents are certainly high here, relative to the past, they aren't at California/East Coast/Chicago levels. Plus materials costs are still high and interest rates are rising.

All of that means that buying an existing house and then building a quality ADU on the same property costs a lot of money - far more than can be recouped in renting out a single housing unit. 

So ADUs are much more likely to happen because someone with disposable income or a lot of equity in their home wants the extra space for a relative - generally a retiree or young adult - to be able to live rent-free but still have their own space. But even that is getting squeezed by interest rates and materials costs. 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Khorasaurus1

[whitemice]

On 12/5/2022 at 8:46 AM, cstonesparty said:

one of the regulars on here built an ADU...  was that you, WhiteMice?

Yes. https://urbangr.org/BuildingADU535Shirley

[cstonesparty]

2 hours ago, whitemice said:

Yes. https://urbangr.org/BuildingADU535Shirley

Thanks.  I was curious to learn more...

[organsnyder]

I built an ADU as well (whitemice and I were even at the same planning meeting). I have an unusually large lot (0.75 acres) and pro-housing neighborhood association (GPNA), so I could still probably build my project today (with some tweaks) even with the changed regulations. But the changes absolutely made it harder/impossible for most parcels in the city.

[walker]

Now you can watch a new documentary about affordability and homelessness in Kent County at the Wealthy Theatre:

WOODTV: new documentary sheds light on kent county housing crisis

[whitemice]

The "Housing Solutions" panel from 2023-03-16 is available on Youtube.

It was an interesting event; finally a conversation focused on Data & Policy.   A pretty clear contrast to the K-Connect "documentary" which I also attended, which was principally a commercial for K-Connect (another NPO in the local constellation of NPOs)
They even made mention of the role State Preemption has in empowering cities to do what their/our leadership lacks the courage to do.

First use of the phrase "Housing for cars" by a PTB that  I can recall in GR. Micro-units and ADUs got multiple mention.

[walker]

Article about legislation to allow cities besides just  Detroit to establish their own land banks.  It specifically mentions Grand Rapids, Wyoming, and Kentwood:

FREE PRESS: Detroit is the only Michigan city that can establish a land bank. More could soon join  

[Zads]

Adding this Q&A link to this thread from the Grand Rapids Housing Commission director

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/grand-rapids-housing-commission-director-leverages-federal-aid-to-address-housing-shortage/

[walker]

Story today on WOODTV about the non-profit Family Promise buying two existing mobile home parks.  I don't really understand this story.  Like many TV news stories, it is short on details.  You may remember that Family Promise was the lead non-profit that ran the old Holland Home over in Wilcox Park as an emergency shelter for homeless families a couple of years go.

They talk of rehabbing existing mobile homes which is good but where I'm confused is that unless these homes are currently empty or abandoned, that would not increase the stock of affordable housing units and I would assume they don't intend to evict the current residents in order to house the homeless .

Although not mentioned in the story, in many places hedge funds have been buying up old mobile home parks like these and then have been jacking up the lot rents to intolerable levels because the existing  residents can't easily  move away without either abandoning or moving their not so mobile home.  So having a respectable non-profit such as Family Promise as an owner would at least be an improvement over a predatory hedge fund.

WOODTV: Grand Rapids nonprofit buys mobile-home parks to help with affordable housing
 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by walker

[whitemice]

Some land-use reform is finally on the Planning Commission agenda, for this week Thursday (the 28th)

What's being looked at:

•     Accessory Dwelling Units
•     Unrelated Occupancy Limits.

https://urbangr.org/PlanningCommission20230928

 

[Cookin_peacocks]

7 hours ago, whitemice said:

Some land-use reform is finally on the Planning Commission agenda, for this week Thursday (the 28th)

What's being looked at:

•     Accessory Dwelling Units
•     Unrelated Occupancy Limits.

https://urbangr.org/PlanningCommission20230928

 

You didn't post this on r/GrandRapids did you?

[Zads]

Crain's has a story this morning about how fast houses are selling in our market.

I thought this was particularly interesting.

"But she said affordability remains a challenge for many first-time homebuyers, who are shelling out a lot in monthly rent and not seeing wages keep pace with inflation.  As a result, most of the sales she’s seeing right now are among people who already own homes and are moving laterally within the metro area."

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/grand-rapids-ranks-2nd-nationally-for-speedy-home-sales-in-september/