The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) has released the Get Housing Ready Guide.

It’s a checklist for local governments to attract more housing development and investment. The state still faces a shortage of 119,000 housing units.

MSHDA Director Amy Hovey spoke with WDET about what is causing the shortage, and how the guide can help communities address it.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Amy Hovey: In the state of Michigan, we’re still about 119,000 units short of where we need to be for our current population in the state. That shortage comes from a few different things. One, the amount of people that live in each housing unit has shrunk. Quite often there’s one or only two people in the home. So, even if your population is somewhat stagnant, like it is in the state of Michigan — if you have less people in each home, you’re going to need more homes. We’ve also had a big increase in second homes and short term rentals. It’s great that we have those. That has also led to a shortage of housing for people who live here permanently. So we need to create all kinds of tools to help with the development of housing. And this guide really just kind of highlights all the different things — whether it’s zoning changes, whether it’s financial tools, whether it’s planning, whether it’s knowing where you want the housing developed, and having land control and working with land banks. There’s lots of things that a local municipality can do to really be housing ready.

Bre’Anna Tinsley, WDET News: What is the biggest obstacle that local governments are facing right now concerning attracting these investments?

AH: The cost of developing housing is really the biggest obstacle. Often in our state right now, the cost to develop housing far outweighs what Michigan families can afford. So we need everyone to come to the table to reduce those costs. Some of the suggestions we have look at their land use policy. How can they allow for a more dense housing structure? Meaning, like row houses or multifamily even for sale homes that make it more affordable to develop. Also allowing for smaller housing to be developed, which matches really what new families are looking for and also what they can afford.

I also think if local communities prioritize the development of housing, making sure that they’re reviewing plans quickly, that they have pattern books of plans they’ve already approved in the past, that they’re coming to the table and trying to make the process as easy as possible and as short as possible to get housing developed. You know, the longer it takes, the more expensive it is.

BT: I notice that particularly in Detroit, that urgency to build more housing, especially more affordable housing, we tend to lean more towards multifamily units — not necessarily single-family homes. I’m curious if the policy changes that you’re suggesting will help allow more single-family homes to be built.

AH: I do think so. I think the reason why you see a lot of multifamily being developed, particularly in Detroit, is that’s where a lot of the subsidy is geared towards. At MSHDA, we get a lot of money from the federal government that is just for multifamily. We don’t get as much assistance for homeowner for sale development.

And so really, there’s a couple things. One, we need the state government to step up and put more funding towards for-sale. We need local governments to rethink their neighborhoods, to make it more affordable for developers to come and develop for-sale housing. For example, in this guide, we talk about the housing TIFs (Tax Increment Financing) under one of the financial tools and incentives. We have seen developers across the state use that housing TIF tool to develop single family for sale housing. And so if you’re a community that’s willing to approve these housing TIFs, you’re more likely to attract these single-family kind of neighborhood developers into your community.

Chinatown in Detroit was the destination for many Chinese immigrants who traveled to the city. Urban renewal and the construction of the Lodge freeway was then built through the neighborhood and Chinatown residents moved from Jefferson Avenue to the Cass Corridor. That’s where it existed up until Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine – a staple eatery in Chinatown for decades  — shuttered in 2000.

Now, new investments are being made into the area to revitalize what was once a cultural staple in the city. And to celebrate and continue those efforts, Michigan Humanities is hosting a fundraising event on Friday, July 18. And later this month, the Detroit Chinatown Vision Committee is hosting its first annual Block party.

Detroiter Curtis Chin is the co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City and the author of “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese restaurant” — an appropriate title given his family owned the historic Chung’s restaurant in Detroit’s Chinatown neighborhood. He joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss the history of the neighborhood and it’s revitalization.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

More stories from The Metro

Detroit City Council recently approved changes to city ordinances to make the licensing process easier and less cumbersome for small businesses.

The changes, which were unanimously approved by the council, will reduce administrative burdens by cutting redundant licensing requirements that “do not protect health and safety”; allow businesses to renew their business licenses every two years instead of annually; improve the city’s permitting and licensing processes and more.

Hassan Beydoun, group executive of Economic Development for the city of Detroit, joined The Metro on Tuesday to elaborate on what these new resolutions mean for small businesses in Detroit.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

More stories from The Metro

We are less than two months away from the August primary in the race for Detroit Mayor.

The top two vote getters will move on to the general election in November. The top four candidates, as decided by polling, participated in a debate here at Wayne State University on Monday that led to this spicy moment with former Detroit City Council President Saunteel Jenkins calling out the other people on stage — former police chief James Craig, pastor Solomon Kinloch and current City Council President Mary Sheffield.

“More guns in schools, locking up our kids — Craig is your guy. If you want a part-time mayor who is working two full-time jobs, Kinloch is ready,” Jenkins said. “If you want a mayor who shows up on Instagram but doesn’t show up for meetings, then follow Mary.”

Not on stage and not taking any of those shots was Detroit Councilman and mayoral candidate Fred Durhal III. However, he did take the time to release a comprehensive economic strategy — something that no other candidate has done.

Durhal joined WDET’s All Things Considered – Detroit on Wednesday to talk about the motivation behind his economic platform and his reaction to Monday’s debate.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Russ McNamara, WDET News: First off, you weren’t at the debate; I want your thoughts on the shots fired there by Saunteel Jenkins.

Fred Durhal, Detroit City Councilmember and mayoral candidate: Well, you know, sometimes shots get fired.If they hit you, they hit you. My grandmother had an old saying that “if you throw a rock in a pack of wolves, the first one that cries is the first one that got hit,’ So, you know, the base tend to get a little bit punchy, but, I think folks want to hear comprehensive plans when it comes to debates.

RM: Moving on to your plan — big bold letters, right at the top: “An equitable tax strategy.” Where is the inequity right now?

FD: Well, the inequity is really what homeowners pay as opposed to folks who speculate on land or folks who are contributors to blight here in the city of Detroit. I’ll give you an example — we have a lot of underdeveloped land here in the city of Detroit; a lot of the land that may be just flat surface parking lots that during the Tigers game or the Lions game, and — per year — generate over $2-$3 million per year, but pay just a little over $10,000 in property taxes, while the average homeowner is paying that or more in property taxes. So the equity is not there.

We want to make sure that we are charging folks more who are not paying their fair share, and put more money back into the pockets of the residents who are paying their property taxes.

RM: Now, what about those properties that exist, but the homes are still a bit run down?

FD: So if there are properties that exist and the homes are run down — if they’re not owner occupied — we are going to focus on creating a blight tax here in the city of Detroit. And again, this is not for owner occupied homes or structures. We’re targeting folks who are speculators, who come into neighborhoods and buy 10 to 15 properties, sit on those properties, don’t provide any upgrades to those properties; They’re contributors to blight here in the city of Detroit, and then neighbors are stuck with blight in their neighborhood. So we’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to introduce a blight tax and charge 25 times with the property tax millage is.

RM: Now the current mayor, Mike Duggan, tried to institute some taxes and kind of raise the property taxes on speculators — people who are leaving the land vacant — by going through the state Legislature. How close does your plan come to the one that Duggan tried and failed to get done?

FD: I think what’s important to realize is, when you talk about property tax reform in any manner, it’s going to take passage from the state Legislature — anything that is of substance. So when we compare our plan to his plan, there are similarities, but again, we’re going to be very aggressive on lowering the operating mills about 19.5 mills. Additionally, you heard about the implementation of that blight tax, which is going to charge 25 times what the property millage rate is, for folks who are contributors to blight. And we’re very confident, due to the relationships that we’ve had in the state Legislature — being a former member of the Michigan Legislature and in leadership — that we’ll be able to get our plan across the finish line.

RM: What makes you think that you can get it done when a completely democratically-controlled state Legislature, with a Democratic governor,  weren’t able to get it done?

FD: They didn’t even take a vote on it. And I think for me, having those relationships are going to be important. And I think at the time from the conversation with some legislators, they did not feel it was aggressive enough, and some folks needed to see the benefit that it would bring to their community — not just the city of Detroit. So we’ve already started to have those discussions with legislators now about how this would affect their communities. But again, the components that we’re adding, such as a blight tax, is something that’ll be beneficial across the entire state when we talk about getting aggressive.

RM: The people who own the parking lots, the people who own the buildings in downtown Detroit, those are some rich folks who wield a considerable amount of power. I’m just wondering how you expected to get that done and have it go over well?

FD: Again, that’s relationships, and that’s coalition building. You have to be able to get into the door to talk to some of the heads of industry, as well as have a great pulse in the community. And I think we have that, and we have the ability to bridge that gap. And what we’re saying is we’re not trying to penalize folks, but we’re trying to incentivize development here in the city of Detroit. We’re trying to incentivize folks not to be contributors to blight here in the city. And as we look at some of that underdeveloped land, and we start to see that land become developed, we solve a couple problems. One, we have the ability to create new streams of revenue that we can generate so we can put back into the neighborhoods and continue to grow our city. But the second thing that you’ll see is creating walkable areas and neighborhoods.

Let’s say we take a flat lot surface and it gets developed into a huge parking structure. We know parking is starting to become a big issue here in the city of Detroit — and I’m just using that as an example of how we can solve some of these problems and find productive uses for the land that we have.

“I’ve said it throughout this entire campaign, I want to cut more red tape so we can cut more red ribbons, and that is going to be my focus.”

–Detroit City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Fred Durhal III

RM: There’s been a push both at the state level and local level to start cutting some red tape. How do you do that effectively in the city?

FD: I’ve said it throughout this entire campaign, I want to cut more red tape so we can cut more red ribbons, and that is going to be my focus. And we’ll do that by focusing on and streamlining processes here in the city of Detroit. We want a one-stop permitting process that develops a level of predictability that when you want to come do business here in the city of Detroit, you don’t have to go through over 80 steps to get your business started here, no matter if it’s a restaurant, whether it’s retail or whatever the case may be. And then after that, even as we talk about development, we want to create a one-stop inspection process so you don’t have to wait two, three months at a time per inspector, which slows down your process, and slows down the progress of your development, making it more expensive.

We want to make it easier to do business here, we want to be more efficient, and we want to foster an environment where everyone wants to come here and do business and develop in the city.

RM: What’s the one thing you want Detroiters to know about
you?

FD: The one thing I want Detroiters to know about us, even if they didn’t get an opportunity to see us in this past debate, is that we are a very serious candidate, and the most experienced candidate in this race. We’re the only candidate that can say that we served on the state level as well as the city level; we have delivered time and time again, and as the mayor of the city of Detroit, we will continue to develop because we’ll utilize that experience to get comprehensive property tax relief across Lansing and bring home the dollars here for residents in the city of Detroit.