Dear Friend,

This April, we recognize fair housing month. In Michigan, we are committed to ensuring every Michigander has a safe, affordable place to call home. That?s why we are working with our federal government and local partners including municipal governments, community leaders, developers, realtors, and housing associations to build more housing and face housing discrimination head-on.

Housing is a national challenge. Here in Michigan, too many families are spending half of their income on rent or mortgage. Our housing stock is old, as nearly half of all units were built before 1970. In other words, the rent is too damn high, and we don?t have enough damn housing!

Our solution is simple:?build, baby, build!

In 2022, we took the first steps to address these issues by creating Michigan?s first statewide housing plan. This was created to address a broad array of intersecting challenges limiting access to safe, healthy, affordable, accessible, and attainable housing in Michigan. This plan set a goal of creating 75,000 units of housing over the next 5 years. Since I took office, we have built or rehabilitated 34,000 housing units, supporting 20,000 good-paying construction jobs.

Earlier this year, I laid out my vision to make the largest investment in housing in Michigan history. MSHDA will invest a record-breaking $1.4 billion to build or rehabilitate about 10,000 homes using existing loan funds and bond money. This will expand supply and lower costs while supporting thousands of good-paying jobs in the skilled trades and build housing units of all kinds in our state.

Let?s work get this done and build this damn housing!

Sincerely,

Gretchen Whitmer

Governor