Editor's Note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave series on solutions to affordable housing and housing the unhoused. It is made possible by a coalition of funders including Kalamazoo County, the City of Kalamazoo, the ENNA Foundation, and the Kalamazoo County Land Bank.

KALAMAZOO, MI – The City of Kalamazoo is working with Kalamazoo County to develop strategies to fund projects that prevent home-hunting families from settling for substandard housing.
 
K. Babcock, of We The People Kalamazoo, says the need for affordable housing is urgent in Kalamazoo County.The intent is to use $1.2 million in federal funding to connect and amplify existing community resources, and to inspire additional investment in them in order to help struggling families to find good housing.
 
Members of the Kalamazoo City Commission approved Monday (at their Aug. 19, 2024 meeting) an agreement with Kalamazoo County to find ways to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to leverage community resources “from the creation of emergency residential shelter space that would prevent families with children from seeking shelter in substandard housing and address critical needs within the city,” as read by Laura Lamb, chief operating officer for the City of Kalamazoo.
 
Sherilyn Parsons, housing development supervisor for the City of Kalamazoo, said, “This is for us to pursue these strategies and come together to really leverage the dollars that the county has and bring them to the city.”
 
Laura Lam, chief operating officer for the City of Kalamazoo, talks about a new effort to support housing.The City of Kalamazoo recommended an allocation of $1.2 million, with the expectation that the county is going to then leverage that by allocating additional dollars,” Parsons said, “so that all of these dollars can be utilized within our city to fund solutions and pursue these.”
 
Commissioner Qianna Decker said, “When I heard about this I was very excited. I’m glad they were able to use some of these funds that had been slated for housing to really start to do something with housing. And the partnership with the county, I think is wonderful.”
 
Kay Babcock, who said she represents the housing advocacy group We The People Kalamazoo, said the agreement to come up with new strategies and funding to help provide more housing for struggling families and the unhoused is good. But she told city commissioners that the need is urgent and people can’t wait five or 10 years for solutions.
 
“It’s an emergency,” she said. “… I want you to understand that we needed the solutions yesterday. We needed the solutions a year ago. So the urgency, the pressure needs to be put on to make sure that these funds are allocated quickly. These funds were given to the city in 2021.”
 
Laura Lam, chief operating officer for the City of Kalamazoo, talks about a new effort to support housing.Of some $51 million in ARPA funding that was allocated to Kalamazoo County following the outbreak of COVID-19, about $38 million was awarded to the City of Kalamazoo to help address the many financial and social problems resulting from the pandemic, including housing.
 
Speaking after Monday night’s meeting, Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson acknowledged the need for more housing and for opportunities that are affordable to more people. But he said the city is not in the business of building housing itself. It partners with others to develop projects.
 
While Vice Mayor Jeanne Hess said, “We’re all happy about this,” she acknowledged that there will be a lot of questions about the strategizing that will not be answered for a while. But she said, “I’m happy about any housing being created anywhere. There probably is a plan. All we heard from the city manager was we’re working together and we just need to make this money available should this thing happen. … So we’ll see.”
 
Saying that the need for more housing, and efforts to address the needs of unhoused people are countywide problems, City Commissioner Stephanie Hoffman asked if the City of Portage is involved. Parsons said Portage has been involved in discussions with the municipalities, along with the regional economic development organization Southwest Michigan First.
 
K. Babcock, of We The People Kalamazoo, says the need for affordable housing is urgent in Kalamazoo County.The need for the effort may be even greater since the Michigan State Housing Development Authority stopped renewing rent vouchers for low-income families as of July 1, 2024. The federally funded Housing Choice Voucher Program has provided rent subsidies for very low-income people who have found housing in qualified apartment settings and in private homes.
 
Parsons said there has also been a 13 percent increase in families experiencing homelessness in Kalamazoo County. That increase appears to be verified, she said, “as our shelters are seeing higher numbers than typical even through this summer.”
 
Kalamazoo County and the City of Kalamazoo have been in discussions and are focused on housing opportunities for residents “that create deep and lasting change,” she said. “The city and the county together have a shared focus on this and together we aim to address critical housing needs within the City of Kalamazoo.”

Al JonesThe City of Kalamazoo is partnering with Kalamazoo County to leverage federal funding to find ways to help develop more housing.