Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced a $300,000 Michigan State Housing Development Authority grant for the Berrien County Land Bank to pay for energy efficient home rehabilitation projects.
Whitmer was in Benton Harbor Thursday to tour Whirlpool’s Emma Jean Hull Flats apartment complex before presenting the check to the land bank.
Following her State of the State call for $1.4 billion in new housing construction and rehabs this week, Whitmer told us increasing the state’s housing stock is critical to economic development.
“We want to lower costs for people and grow our economy, and when you build out affordable housing in all parts of the state, we accomplish both goals,” Whitmer said.
Whitmer called Emma Jean Hull Flats an example of a unique partnership that can lead to increased housing in a community.
State Representative Joey Andrews told us the need for housing in southwest Michigan is acute, noting he was fortunate enough to buy in home in the St. Joseph area years ago.
“I can tell you over the last few years with the explosion in the cost of housing here, if I was trying to buy the same house I live in right now, I probably wouldn’t be able to afford it,” Andrews said. “We’ve seen the housing market with incredible increased demand as people try to move in, folks buying second homes here from Chicago. It pushing people out of the region who want to work here, raise a family here.”
Also Thursday, Whitmer highlighted the Hometown Heroes program in effect at Emma Jean Hull Flats. It gives reduced rents to first responders and teachers. Whirlpool noted thanks to local demand and the Hometown Heroes program, the apartment complex is now 96% full just six months after opening.
