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Mayor, Councilmembers Waters, Johnson and Calloway announce joint $203M affordable housing strategy to help protect
Detroit Housing Plans
Affordable Housing For Detroiters: 7 Point, $203 Million Plan for 2022
Mayor Mike Duggan and Detroit City Council Members Mary Waters, Latisha Johnson, and Angela Calloway have developed a 7 point, $203 million plan to develop affordable housing options for Detroiters to be funded in 2022.
The plan includes converting long-vacant apartment buildings and Land Bank homes into affordable rental housing, additional housing support resources, getting faster City approval for deeply affordable housing projects, down payment assistance to increase home ownership, help for landlords to bring their rental properties into compliance, rapid-placement for good-paying jobs and more.
Here are the details:
1.) Detroit housing services ($20 million in ARPA funds)
A central Detroit Housing Services division will be established bringing a number of services to Detroiters who are most at-risk and in greatest need. A hotline will offer assistance for those looking to avoid housing displacement, emergency response for those facing immediate homelessness, and connections to additional housing resources.
A full homelessness diversion program will help keep Detroiters off the street. A database with affordable housing properties in the city connects Detroiters with places they can afford and that meets their needs.
Finally, a network of at least six Detroit Housing Network (DHN) neighborhood service centers run by nonprofit providers will serve as one-stop-shop resources to connect present and future Detroit homeowners with a full range of programs, including housing counseling and foreclosure prevention services.
Next steps:
- Contract for homelessness diversion and prevention services to City Council for approval in July.
- Contract for Detroit Housing Network system manager to City Council for approval in July.
- Identification of first six DHN providers expected in July with contracts moving to City Council for approval in August-October. An additional 1-3 expected to be identified within the next year.
- Hotline operational in October 2022. Contract expected to City Council in August
- Hiring of case managers to help Detroiters secure and find housing in August-December
2.) Detroit Housing Commission apartment building rehabs ($20M in DHC funds)
Many for-profit developers aren’t tackling smaller apartment buildings of 20 or 30 units. That has left a number of vacant structures unused and blighted in communities across Detroit. This initiative will turn these blighted neighborhood eyesores that dot our city into beautiful, deeply affordable housing.
The Detroit Housing Commission (DHC) will use funding it received through the sale of the Brewster-Douglass site to create financing and leveraging opportunities to rehab small- and medium-size multifamily apartment buildings as deeply affordable housing. Currently, DHC is evaluating four buildings that range from 10 to 20 units each. The units will be targeted at deeply affordable rental rates.
Next steps:
- Evaluation of the potential properties is estimated to take 4-6 months. Construction commencement is expected in spring 2023.
3.) Detroit Land Bank affordable home program ($3M in ARPA funds)
This initiative will begin with 20 to 50 Detroit Land Bank Authority (DLBA)-owned homes that will be sold to local community development organizations (CDOs), which will use City subsidies to rehab the properties. The properties will then be rented for at least 10 years at 50 percent to 60 percent area median income (AMI), rates that are considered deeply affordable, with the option for the renter to buy the property and become a homeowner.
The City knows that many Detroiters need more than a one-bedroom apartment to house their families, and this program will be key to providing options that are not only affordable but large enough for residents and their families.
The Housing & Revitalization Department in coordination with CDOs, will start this program should kick off soon, with The City estimates that home repairs will begin in spring 2023 with the first homes being made available for residents in winter 2023.
Next steps:
- HRD will coordinate the release of Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) with the Detroit Land Bank Authority to identify the initial group of CDOs that will renovate the houses.
4.) More affordable housing and expedited approval process ($132M in ARPA and state and federal funds)
The City Council will work with the Detroit Housing & Revitalization Department to streamline the process for Council to approve affordable housing developments that include units to be rented at 60 percent AMI or below. The current process often requires nine steps or more to get City Council approval.
In addition to expediting the process, the plan calls for the funding of 1,600 new affordable housing units, with 250 of them designated as permanent supportive housing with a range of services available to Detroiters transitioning out of homelessness.
The breakdown is as follows:
- 8 Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) projects using Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) totaling 341 affordable units approved this year. The first four of these were announced in June; the other four will be announced in the near future. ($68 million in state and federal funds)
- Residences at St. Matthew: Following a $17.4 million conversion by the Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, the vacant St. Matthew School in MorningSide will become home to 46 units of affordable housing. The project received $9.8 million in LIHTC funding from MSHDA, as well as 25 MSHDA project-based vouchers for permanent supportive housing units, ensuring those residents will not pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent and utilities. With the award of the Section 8 vouchers and the rental subsidies of the city, half of the residents of St. Matthew will pay no more than 30 percent of their income. The remainder of the units will serve residents earning 60 percent AMI or less.
- 4401 Rosa Parks: This development at Rosa Parks Boulevard and Calumet will replace a vacant lot that was once part of the Wilbur Wright School campus. The project’s deep affordability will help ease the demand and high rents in the popular Woodbridge neighborhood. It will feature 60 units of affordable housing, all below 60 percent AMI. Cinnaire Solutions Corp. & Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corp. plan to start construction in the first quarter of next year and wrap up in the third quarter of 2024.
- Greystone Senior Living: This new construction is on a vacant site at 440 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, just west of Cass Avenue. The building will consist of 49 one- and two-bedroom units across four floors. Located in the heart of Midtown, the Greystone will offer seniors quick and easy access to public transit like the QLINE as well as shopping destinations such as Whole Foods. It will have 49 units, all of which will be below 60 percent AMI. Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corp. is expected to begin construction in early 2023 and wrap up by the end of next year.
- Orchard Village Apartments: CHN Housing Partners and Detroit Blight Busters are co-developing the 48-unit Orchard Village Apartments at Orchard and Santa Clara streets in the heart of Old Redford and near Blight Busters’ many commercial corridor projects near Lahser and Grand River. All 48 units will be at 30 percent to 60 percent AMI. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2023 and complete in 2024.
- 12 projects receiving MSHDA supplemental support totaling approximately 750 units currently on hold because of rising costs. Six were announced last month, and six more are expected to be announced later this year. ($21 million state and federal funds)
Affordable Units Value of supplemental
Project LIHTC allocation
7580 E. Jefferson 150 $2,027,756
Brush Watson 160 $3,781,907
Left Field 48 $3,390,559
Ruth Ellis Clairmount Center 42 $691,900
Anchor at Mariners Inn 44 $1,372,800
La Joya Gardens 42 $876,474
TOTAL 486 $12,141,397
- City of Detroit supplemental support for developments currently stopped because of rising costs and not covered by MSHDA supplemental support. ($7 million in ARPA)
- Two or three workforce housing projects with 100 new units for middle-income Detroiters. ($10 million in Michigan State Housing Development Authority housing trust funds)
- HUD-funded support to build 250 new permanent supportive housing units and rehabilitating an existing homeless shelter, as well as wraparound services. ($26 million in federal funds)
More details on these projects will be made as they become available.
Next steps:
- Left Field, La Joya, the Anchor and 7850 E. Jefferson are to begin construction in July-December.
- Ruth Ellis Clairmount Center and first two phases of Brush Watson will continue construction and are to be completed in fall 2022 and summer 2023, respectively.
- City Council is to appropriate ARPA match funding in September.
- HRD to release Notice of Funding Availability for developments needing additional gap funding in late summer.
- Submission of action plan to the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) for funds to provide housing, improved shelter and services to Detroiters experiencing homelessness in July. Expected approval in early fall.
5.) Down-payment and homeowner assistance programs ($13 million in ARPA funds)
This program will help 600 Detroiters who currently rent become homeowners through a down-payment assistance program. A third of those helped will receive funding and support to transition to owning the homes they are now renting through capital improvements and homeownership counseling. The remainder will receive down-payment assistance to buy homes they aren’t currently renting.
Next steps:
- Contracts with program administrator and evaluator of standard down-payment assistance programs to City Council for approval in July.
- NOFA to identify program administrator(s) to help renters transition to homeownership to be released by September.
6.) Programs to bring more than 1,000 rental units into compliance ($5 million in ARPA funds)
Through a suite of three programs, $5 million in funding will be used to bring rental units into compliance with rental codes so that Detroit renters get the quality units they deserve and the City requires. A second-floor rental rehab program will transform vacant second floor apartment units located in commercial corridors into affordable housing. Property management and improvement training programs will be offered to small-scale landlords, who will then be eligible to apply for matching grants to renovate their properties and bring them into compliance with the rental registration ordinance.
Next steps:
- First phase of second floor commercial rehab program to commence in southwest Detroit in late summer.
- Contracts for property management and improvement training programs to City Council for approval in late summer.
- Identification of program administrator(s) of matching grant program in early fall.
7.) Self-sufficiency support for those facing rising rents ($10 million in ARPA funds)
With rents increasing as demand for housing in the city increases, the City of Detroit’s Detroit at Work program can help residents through immediate placement in good-paying jobs or in “earn to learn” programs, including literacy and GED programs. To get started, Detroiters can go to detroitatwork.com or call 313-962-WORK.
Read more about other recent Detroit affordable housing announcements:
October 25, 2022
2nd completed Detroit Housing for the Future Fund project both preserves, adds new affordable housing to Midtown
2nd completed Detroit Housing for the Future Fund project both preserves, adds new affordable housing to Midtown
- Mayor Duggan, Council President Sheffield join LISC Detroit and developer to celebrate completion of $2.9M renovation to The Belnord, offering 29 units at affordable rates, some as low as 50% area median income.
- Project is among seven funded by DHFF since fund’s inception in fall 2020.
DETROIT – Mayor Mike Duggan, Council President Mary Sheffield and LISC Detroit joined developer JacobsStreet LLC today to celebrate the opening of the latest affordable housing development to tap the Detroit Housing for the Future Fund (DHFF), which helps developers bridge financial gaps in their efforts to create and renovate quality affordable housing options in neighborhoods across the city.
October 24, 2022
City of Detroit, HUD celebrate deal that lets Freedom House to continue its mission of serving refugees fleeing persecution
- Nonprofit now owns building in Southwest Detroit for the first time in its nearly 40 years of serving families.
- More than 5,000 refugees have been served by Freedom House, with an average of 125 a year.
DETROIT – The City of Detroit Housing & Revitalization Department (HRD) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are celebrating the sale of City-owned land to Freedom House Detroit, a deal that will ensure the nonprofit can continue to provide community housing and supportive services to refugees and others from around the globe who are fleeing persecution.
Read the full announcement: https://detroitmi.gov/news/city-detroit-hud-celebrate-deal-lets-freedom-house-continue-its-mission-serving-refugees-fleeing
October 7, 2022
Mayor Duggan, Rep. Tlaib and CP Sheffield help celebrate new $16M Ruth Ellis Clairmount Center for LGBTQ+ youth
Mayor Duggan, Rep. Tlaib and CP Sheffield help celebrate new $16M Ruth Ellis Clairmount Center for LGBTQ+ youth
- 7 years in the making, permanent supportive housing building also will feature counseling and health services through partnership with Henry Ford Health.
- Detroit Housing & Revitalization Department helped secure necessary financing to build facility that will also offer career training, counseling services and more.
- Festivities also include dedication of 4-story mural honoring LGBTQ+ rights pioneer.
Read the full announcement: https://detroitmi.gov/news/mayor-duggan-rep-tlaib-and-cp-sheffield-help-celebrate-new-16m-ruth-ellis-clairmount-center-lgbtq
Catch up on other recent Affordable Housing initiatives below: