First Community Land Trust in Kalamazoo County Breaks Ground on 42 Affordable Homes
*PORTAGE, MI* — The city of Portage has launched a groundbreaking affordable housing initiative with Stanwood Crossings, the first community land trust development in Kalamazoo County, with 42 new affordable homes currently under construction. The project uses a unique model that allows residents to own their homes while keeping them affordable for future generations.
"This community land-trust concept that we're putting to work here, is the first one in Kalamazoo County," said Patrick McGinnis, city manager of Portage. "There's only a handful of them in Michigan, so we hope to be able to grow this concept to deliver more affordable housing throughout the state of Michigan."
The Portage city council is now moving forward with Phase Two of the development, which will add 12 more "workforce" single-family homes to the existing project.
Pricing Targets Average Income Earners
Despite the innovative approach, affordability remains a challenge in the current housing market. The Phase Two homes are priced between $300,000 and $360,000, specifically targeting young professionals, teachers, police officers, and other average income earners.
"When my realtor described what the program was, I thought we should be doing this all over the place," said Drew Forsyth, a prospective homebuyer who learned about the program through his realtor.
Forsyth, who described his family as middle-class, noted the growing difficulty in finding affordable housing in the area. The Stanwood Crossings development offers four home styles with two-car garages at below-market rates, helping address housing affordability while allowing residents to build equity.
How the Community Land Trust Works
The Stanwood Crossings project operates on a community land trust model, where the land is owned by the city of Portage using American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds, while residents own the structures they build on it. This approach separates land costs from home ownership, making it possible to offer housing at below-market prices while still allowing residents to build equity in their homes.
The city is also using Tax Increment Financing (TIF), a state development tool that allows Portage to use future tax revenue generated by the development to fund the project.
County Explores Housing Vouchers as Supplemental Solution
While the Stanwood Crossings project moves forward, Kalamazoo County is simultaneously exploring additional solutions to address the housing crisis. The county is considering a 3-year pilot program that would create housing vouchers through the use of $7.2 million from a recent donation of over $23 million to the county.
According to Deputy Housing Director Willa DiTaranto, the pilot would create two types of housing vouchers:
- 1.Vouchers for renters in apartment complexes subsidized by the Kalamazoo County Housing Millage
- 2.Vouchers for renters in other properties
"Housing Director Mary Balkema says the currently available subsidized units in their projects fill up quickly, much faster than the market rate units," reported WKZO. "Vouchers would make more of them affordable."
Broader Housing Crisis in Kalamazoo County
The current housing shortage in Kalamazoo County is a decades-long issue. Dan Jaqua, owner of Kalamazoo-based Jaqua Realtors, noted that the roots of the current housing crisis date back almost 20 years to the 2008 housing bust.
"The person living there will also own the home," said McGinnis, emphasizing that the community land trust model maintains the benefits of homeownership while preserving affordability.
County Housing Framework Under Development
The housing voucher pilot is just one component of a broader intergovernmental housing framework that the County Housing Department is designing. This framework will involve participation from the city of Kalamazoo and local housing agencies to address the county-wide housing crisis.
However, county commissioners have expressed several concerns about the voucher program:
- Recipients could become dependent on assistance
- Income limitations could make residents ineligible as their incomes rise
- The program could artificially inflate rental rates locally by reducing vacancies
All of these issues must be weighed before the program receives final approval.
Next Steps
Portage's Stanwood Crossings project is moving forward with construction of the 12 additional workforce homes in Phase Two. The county's housing voucher pilot program is still in the planning stages, with the first type of voucher potentially available later this year.
The community land trust model has shown promise in other parts of Michigan, with only a handful of such developments statewide. Portage hopes to expand this approach to deliver more affordable housing opportunities throughout Kalamazoo County and potentially the broader state.