GR Chamber of Commerce group Housing Next says there are 4 Roadblocks to Housing in Grand Rapids, but I have a much different list

The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce created group Housing Next says that have a plan to create more housing. In a recent message headlined, 4 Roadblocks to Housing and How You Can Help Remove Them, they provide a brief narrative and the following list:

Housing demand is outpacing supply, but delays are driving up the cost of housing. Right now, developers and architects across West Michigan are facing these barriers, which slow progress and increase costs.

Here are four challenges they’ve identified:

• Local planning commissions lack the data to make informed decisions
  
• Zoning inconsistencies and unclear expectations vary by municipality
  
• Delayed feedback loops drag out timelines and inflate budgets
  
• Financing hurdles make too many good projects fall apart on paper
  

The plan for change regarding housing availability and cost are what you would expect from a GR Chamber of Commerce created group, which I have written about in recent years.

Housing Next sees the issue as supply and demand as the major problem with housing in this market. This is a flawed view of housing. What I would propose, and what tenant unions across the country are proposing, is a much different list, or a list that would offer real solutions instead of the false solutions that Housing Next offers.

• Make housing a human right, not subject to Capitalism. Everyone should have a decent and safe place to live. If housing were a fundamental right it would not be part of the system of market capitalism, which makes most housing unaffordable. Housing as a human right would guarantee a place to live……period!
• According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition renters in Michigan need to earn $26.33 an hour in order to afford a two bedroom rental in Grand Rapids. This just covers housing costs, so a more realistic living wage would be more like $40 an hour. If you want to make more housing affordable for people, then pay them a living wage!
• Government regulated rent control. Rent Control was proposed in 2023, while the Democrats control the state legislature in Michigan, but it never got out of committee. However, just because there is no state regulated rent control that doesn’t mean that renters can’t demand it from their landlords and Property Management Companies. Tenant Unions have been demand rent control and have won in many cases.
• Confront Landlords and Property Management Companies in their homes and offices, making life uncomfortable for them until they meet the demands of tenants.
• Create more co-operative housing options. We should not expect governments to do this, but create them ourselves.
• Limit large corporate property management companies or real estate investors from operating in Grand Rapids/Kent County.
• End government subsidies/tax breaks for developers. We need to pressure local governments from using public money to subsidize the for-profit housing system – developers, contractors, etc.
• Lastly, join the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union and fight for housing rights and housing justice.

There are lots of other possible tactics and strategies that could be developed to address the current housing crisis, but we need a social movement to confront the current market driven housing system and to implement non-market housing solutions. We cannot be fooled by groups like Housing Next, nor can we allow them to continue to dictate the narrative about how to address the current housing crisis.