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.

The city of Detroit is suing a blockchain real estate company after many of its properties allegedly violated local safety and health codes.

Real Token, or RealT, is a Florida-based company that markets itself as a decentralized real estate security token platform. In the lawsuit, the city alleges that the company’s co-founders, brothers Remy Jacobson and Jean-Marc Jacobson, have neglected over 400 properties in the city by failing to maintain basic health and safety requirements.

“We’re talking about roofs that are leaking, sewage leaking in the basements. We have standing water as well in many of the basements…408 properties, 408 properties and not one of them has a certification of compliance,” said Detroit City Councilmember James Tate of the violations at a press conference.

Conrad Mallett, corporation counsel for the city of Detroit, joined The Metro on Tuesday to share more details about the lawsuit.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

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Detroit officials say they’ve filed the “largest blight lawsuit in its history” against a blockchain-based real estate platform after it failed to maintain hundreds of residential properties in the city.

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Real Token, also known as RealT, is a Florida-based company that markets itself as a decentralized real estate security token platform. In the lawsuit, the city alleges that the company’s co-founders, brothers Remy Jacobson and Jean-Marc Jacobson — and their 165 affiliated companies — have neglected over 400 properties in Detroit by failing to maintain basic health and safety requirements, leading to widespread code violations and blight.

Detroit’s Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallet says the city wants them to pay $500,000 in blight tickets and ensure their properties pass compliance inspections.  

“We are also asking the judge to hold the Jacobson brothers personally liable for the circumstances that their tenants find themselves,” he said. “We are also asking the judge to take control of the entire process so that even the vacant properties are properly attended to [and] properly registered.”

Mallet says Real token used a complex web of shell companies to avoid responsibility for keeping up their properties.  

Real Token says it paid their parties to manage the properties and blamed them for the problems.  

“We are sending a message,” Mallet wrote in a statement, “no matter how innovative your business model may be, you cannot hide behind technology or corporate formalities to evade your responsibilities as a property owner.”

Other headlines for Thursday, July 3, 2025:

• More than 6,000 signatures have been collected by the group Dearborn Wants Wards to change the city council from an at-large body to district-based seats.
• The Michigan House has passed two bills that give police the ability to test for controlled substances during traffic stops.
• AAA says it expects almost 2.5 million people in Michigan to travel this Fourth of July weekend. State officials say they are suspending roadwork at more than 100 project sites over the holiday weekend to help ease traffic congestion.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

After decades of steady decline, Detroit’s population is finally growing. Latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows Detroit increased its population by 6,800 residents from 2023 to 2024.

And even more people seem to be moving to Detroit’s neighboring suburbs, with many housing investments being made in recent years in the city’s outer suburban ring and nearby “exurbs” like Lyon, Milford and Commerce townships.

Ro Harvard, a realtor with Island Realty — an affiliate of Keller Williams Realty — joined on The Metro on Thursday to shine some light on the inner workings of Detroit’s housing scene, and what types of amenities and priorities draw buyers to certain communities — from school districts and walkability to affordability and property values.

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.

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