An Integrated Response to Increase Housing Supply

This presentation will address how to tackle long-standing beliefs and zoning practices to create meaningful changes to increase housing supply using a variety of different housing types and price points to ensure that all people in Michigan have a place to call home. A focus on creating housing stock below 120% AMI is discussed and arguments to support accommodation of different household types, including renters. It is projected that Michigan's housing deficit will be in the hundreds of thousands of units if aggressive action isn't taken to increase housing supply. Using a data-driven approach, economic arguments, community engagement, developer consultation, and policy advocacy, an “all hands on deck” method is being used in Michigan that reaches from the grassroots to the halls of the capitol to effect change. Planners are at the center of it all, with the Michigan Chapter's Zoning Reform Toolkit - a recipient of the APA’s 2022 Karen B. Smith Chapter Award for Outstanding Achievement - guiding much of the work. Attendees will learn how planners are leading the way, the use of storytelling to create effective messaging to support change, approaches to ensure housing construction at all price points, and how state mandates have been avoided.