housing

This pandemic year has been tough for lawyers who work with people facing eviction.

The need for their services is greater than ever. Support programs have helped, but they’ve been a patchwork that often leave attorneys scrambling to help clients.

With the economic fallout from COVID-19 hitting many people hard, Wayne County says it will use federal government money to help some residents with rental and food assistance.

The county is providing nearly $3.5 million for help with rental payments, and another $400,000 for food. The money comes from the federal CARES Act and other re-allocated federal funds through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and will be distributed by the Wayne Metro Community Action Agency.

Update: 8:21 a.m. Friday, June 12: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is extending a ban on evictions through the rest of June for tenants and mobile home owners. The eviction ban was set to expire Thursday when Whitmer signed a new executive order expanding it until June 30.

Original post: Thursday, May 14: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has issued another executive order extending a moratorium on evictions until 11:59 pm. on June 11. 

Joe McGuire, a staff attorney with the Detroit Justice Center, said Whitmer should have extended the moratorium sooner, and that many other states have instituted longer and more comprehensive bans in the face of COVID-19 than Michigan has.

A Democratic state lawmaker has called for adding a new legal protection for renters. State Senator Jeff Irwin’s (D-Ann Arbor) bill would prohibit landlords from denying housing based on a prospective renter’s source of income.

The number of homes listed for sale in metro Grand Rapids hit a 20 year low last year, according to new numbers released by the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors.

That’s as the average price of homes in Michigan’s second largest city hit an all-time high.

Analysts expect the nation’s housing industry will slow down in 2019. 

But Michigan might be spared, at least for a while.

Daren Blomquist is with Attom Data Solutions. The company tracks the housing industry.

He says Michigan housing markets are still doing well, but could suffer if the nation’s economy takes a turn toward a recession.

About 80 families could move into a new emergency shelter in Grand Rapids in the coming weeks.

The shelter is inside a former nursing home. The city planning commission approved the site for use as emergency housing, but only for one year.

African-American homeownership has fallen further in Michigan than in any other state since 2000, and a growing number of low-income renters in Metro Detroit are “being squeezed from all sides” when it comes to finding affordable housing.

Those are two just two notable conclusions from a series of reports released by the Urban Institute this week about major issues in Southeast Michigan’s housing market.

It’s been half a century since the federal government banned discrimination in the home mortgage industry. But a new analysis of mortgage data shows people of color are still routinely denied conventional mortgage loans far more often than white people.

Detroit’s plan to get all city rental properties up to code launches at the start of next month.

Landlords in certain parts of the city will have 90 days to register their properties, and another 90 days to comply with a city ordinance.

Detroit updated and strengthened its rental ordinance last year, after letting it largely go unenforced for years.

Michigan home builders expect demand to drive more home construction in 2018.

The Home Builders Association of Michigan predicts a one percent increase in the number of single-family homes to be constructed in 2018.   

CEO Bob Filka says demand is actually outpacing their ability to build homes.

“We’re pretty much tapped out at about 17,000 homes in terms of the current capacity to build new homes in our state,” says Filka.

Wayne County doesn’t always enforce a law that forbids tax delinquents from buying properties at its tax foreclosure auctions, contributing to a cycle of speculation that perpetuates blight, a Bridge Magazine investigation has found.

The city of Detroit has been losing population for decades, but that could soon change.

Southeast Michigan is expected to gain approximately 380,000 households by 2040, according to a new report from the Urban Institute.

 Homes sales in Michigan is becoming a seller’s market.

After languishing for years, Michigan’s real estate market is apparently turning in favor of home sellers.

Darin Blomquist is with Attom Data Solutions, which tracks the real estate market.  Blomquist says home sale prices are improving in Michigan, including in parts of the state you wouldn’t expect.

A non-profit in Grand Rapids says it’s reached an agreement to buy 177 homes to preserve affordable housing in the region.
The Inner City Christian Federation, or ICCF, plans to buy the homes from a Chicago-based investment company, known as RDG. Michigan Radio first reported in April that RDG had quietly become the single largest investor in single family homes in Grand Rapids, with more than 140 properties in the city alone.

ICCF says its purchase agreement is for 177 homes in Grand Rapids, Wyoming and Eaton Rapids, near Lansing. 

Comerica Bank plans to invest up to $5 million in a Detroit program for home mortgages that seeks to address issues with property appraisals.

The money will go toward the Detroit Home Mortgage program, which was introduced last year. The bank notes that housing in Detroit typically appraises below the price to buy and renovate, making it more difficult for some to buy homes in the city.

City commissioners in Grand Rapids are expected to vote next week on a budget that includes more money for affordable housing.

A preliminary plan released by the city in April included slightly more than $866,000 for the 2018 budget to launch an Affordable Housing Community Fund. The plan proposes about $1 million per year for future years. 

Grand Rapids is in the middle of a housing crisis, with relatively few homes or apartments available in the city, and prices skyrocketing.

Michigan was hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. But now, almost nine years after the crash, the state's housing market is showing promising signs of life.

That's especially true in Grand Rapids, which has one of the hottest real estate markets in the nation.