“We want to do something that hasn't been done in a long time here in Bay City: build new houses. One of the goals of the Missing Middle Housing Program is to take vacant parcels of land that aren’t contributing anything to the city or its tax base and put a house there, specifically for people who need a house and maybe can't afford it otherwise. These are families that likely cannot afford something like a $220,000 house, but through the Missing Middle program and our community partners, we'll be able to potentially sell that house to them for $130,000 or $140,000. Down the road, if they stay there for five years, they're going to have equity in that house, so along with having a house, it's building wealth for them as well.
Our first run at this is going to be four houses. We have construction costs going up really high, and the housing values are starting to catch up, but they're not going up as fast as construction costs. So, we're trying to narrow that gap while we're trying to fill in the housing gaps in our neighborhoods. But Bay City isn't the only place needing new houses, so after we show that this works, we can take the next step: maybe building eight or 12 units.
We’re looking at finishing these in the next two years and that's the beauty of using the modular home. You’re still using good-quality material, but instead of taking eight months to a year to build a house, we can put in a foundation that's waterproof in one day: dig the hole, put the foundation the next day, pour the concrete floor, give it a day to cure. After that, you set the house and then it's just finishing the house off. You can be done, if you go full bore at it, probably in about eight to 12 weeks.”
– Brian Krause, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity and Wayne Hofmann, Infrastructure Funding Director for Wade Trim
For more information about the Missing Middle Housing Program, watch or listen to our full interview with Brian and Wayne here on Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts!
“Funding for the Missing Middle Housing Program is coming through the American Rescue Plan Act funding the State of Michigan received, and they're putting into this program through MSHDA. Each home we will build is eligible for up to $80,000 in gap funding, which is pretty darn close to the gap between the sale and construction cost. The state is looking at putting more money in that isn’t American Rescue Plan Act funding, and that it could become a permanent source of funding for the program.
Now that we're seeing resources available at the state level, we need to have the capacity. You need to have the know-how. You need to have the leveraged investment to take advantage of it. That's where we're at as far as with this program, and trying to show this is how it's done and how we’re going to do it again and again.
We're working on funding and since 2020, we have just been putting every penny back into housing to help people in the community. Any outside funding that we can get to help that would really help. We have our website with a donation button on it, but I'd rather have somebody send me an email and sit down, talk with them and tell them a little bit more about our programs and what we're looking to do.
This is a talent retention program, because we're looking for somebody who's a grant writer and works with MSHDA. We’re looking for a project manager that can do this. We're bringing more jobs into Bay County by doing this program. If we start doing where we're doing, with 8 to 12 houses a year, we're going to need even more people to do this work.
If you go to our website, which is www.habitatbaycounty.org, you'll see at the top it says ‘Apply for Services’ and that's if you need critical home repairs. If you're a veteran and you need help, or if you'd like to apply to be a Habitat homeowner, there are applications right online, just fill them out. We'll get the information and we'll get back to you and let you know what the next step is.
One big way to support this is with philanthropy and understanding the importance of an organization like Habitat. Where developers need to develop to make money, Habitat for Humanity is different because they’re only here to develop the community. The houses built in the Missing Middle Housing Program will be sold, meaning the money is going back into Habitat and being reinvested into the next project to create more housing. It’s a neat model.
That's obviously not all they do. Bay City has the second highest percentage of homes that are over 80 years old. We have tons of houses that lack maintenance and they're starting to get to the end of their usable lives. They need to be reinvested in and Habitat can help with that.
With the Missing Middle Housing Program, we're bringing together the community. We have the city, the county, the Land Bank, United Way, and a lot of outside investors and community partners, who are all going to be involved in this program. We will just keep bringing people in. The more we talk about this, the more people will come to us and ask, ‘Is there anything I can do?’”
– Brian Krause, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Bay County and Wayne Hofmann, Infrastructure Funding Director for Wade Trim
