Thought Leadership

Michigan’s housing shortage is affecting affordability, community livability, economic growth and prosperity, and quality of life. Cities, townships, and villages are struggling to find solutions that allow people to age in place, employees to find attainable housing, young people the opportunity to move back, and how various housing types can meet a myriad of different community needs.

Current zoning practices by and large discourage housing types other than stand-alone single-family homes even though most households are not families. Nearly three-quarters of Michigan’s housing units are detached single-family homes yet 67% of households in Michigan are comprised of just 1 or 2 people.

While communities can’t control labor and lumber prices, the laws that are passed at the local level do affect how much development can occur on a parcel of land and how that land will be used. The Zoning Reform Toolkit: 15 Tools to Expand Housing Choice and Supply provides local regulatory remedies to increase housing supply and shares communications strategies to overcome resistance to new development regulations. The Toolkit is designed to help municipal leaders implement zoning reform to expand housing choice and supply and, in the process, combat the housing affordability crisis.