KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Governor Gretchen Whitmer is proposing that $100 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan be set aside to help fund housing for low-income families in Michigan.
She was in Kalamazoo Wednesday, calling it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to give fellow Michiganders a safer place to call home”.
Governor Whitmer is crisscrossing the state this week pitching the plan, which she says would begin to address the problem in Michigan.
It could provide about 2,000 homes putting a roof over the head of more than 6,000 state residents.
The Creamery building in Kalamazoo. (Photo by John McNeil).
She hopes the money could be leveraged to attract as much as $380 million in private funding to build housing.
It’s estimated the state needs over 200,000 more affordable homes, and County Housing Director Mary Balkema says the Governor’s statewide proposal would just about cover their local needs.
The Governor will need legislative approval for this proposal and others she has made to spend federal COVID relief dollars on state and local parks, child care and other programs.
Whitmer made the announcement at The Creamery, a new complex in Kalamazoo that is part subsidized and part market-rate housing at the corner of Lake Street and Portage Street.
The Creamery is unique because it not only provides housing, but a 24-hour daycare facility.
The YWCA’s Dr. Grace Lubwama, who is behind the project, says it fills critical gaps, especially for single moms.
— Copy written by John McNeil —
