Development Without Displacement

Goals:

Long-term: In the next five years, 30% of housing in Grand Rapids will be affordable based on census tract data and will accommodate all household sizes.

Breaking down barriers to housing

Goals:

Long-term: Place affected residents in leadership roles (leading the organization) within Grand Rapids Homes for All

Intermediate: Build name recognition and legitimacy (so that people will have a powerful platform for actions and speaking out)

Short-term: Develop an "Immediate Response Team"

Advocacy Work: Allies in the fight for housing justice

What is "affordable housing"?

We believe that affordable housing should cost 30% or less of a household’s annual income based on 60% of the Area Median Income.

Grand Rapids City Commission HousingNOW! Proposals

In late 2016, Mayor Rosalynn Bliss appointed several individuals to a Housing Advisory Committee. The Committee produced 24 recommendations regarding housing in Grand Rapids, 11 of those recommendations were passed on to the City Commission and city staff for analysis and consideration.

Read GR Homes for All's analysis of the HousingNOW! policies in the documents below.

Read the original HousingNOW! proposals here.

Six of these proposals focus on affordable housing. Three of them passed in January 2018, a fourth passed in July 2019, five others remain on the City Commission's table.

• PASSED Recommendation 1: Amend the Taxation of Assisted Lower-Income Housing Ordinance
• ON HOLD: Recommendations 3, 6, 8, and 9 Zoning Amendments A REPORT ON COMMUNITY FEEDBACK IS DUE IN SEPTEMBER
• PASSED Recommendation 4: Modify the Neighborhood Enterprise Zone Policy
• PASSED Recommendation 5: Voluntary Equitable Development Agreement Policy
• PASSED Recommendation 10: Residential Rental Application Fee Ordinance
• NOT YET CONSIDERED Recommendation 11: Affordable Housing Fund

GR Homes for All wants this policy to:

• Appoint at least 8 City residents who have experienced a housing crisis in their adult life to the Affordable Housing Board.
• Include “to provide housing for people who are barred from traditional housing assistance programs due to barriers like evictions or felonies.” in the fund’s purpose statement.
• Require all voting and non-voting members of the AHF board to participate in implicit bias training and a thorough overview of the history of discriminatory laws, redlining, blockbusting, white flight, housing booms and recessions, development, and displacement in GR from the city’s founding to the present. The cost of training should be covered by the city or the AHF.
• Require all funding, application and allocation reports be published on the City’s website for the public to access.

Additionally, we would like the City of Grand Rapids to:

• Define “affordable”. Decide to use this consistent definition of affordable housing in every department, ordinance, and policy of Grand Rapids: 30% or less of a household’s annual income based on 60% of Area Median Income for renters and 80% of Area Median Income for homeowners.
• Track progress. Begin to publically track the annual amount of housing available at each price point in neighborhoods throughout the city.
• Set annual building targets. Begin to set annual targets for the number of new affordable housing units (with size and neighborhood specified) to be built each year. Targets will help the city reach the goal of 30% affordable housing stock across the city by creating a benchmark for decision-making related to development.

GR Homes for All's Analysis of the HousingNOW Proposals:

What's done: Economic Development Policies. These four policies deal with changes to the tax rates developers get for building affordable housing and introduce new tools for residents to have negotiation power during development. All four passed in January 2018.

What's being considered: Zoning Ordinance Amendments. These four policies propose changes to the zoning ordinance that will increase housing density, including the by right development of accessory dwelling units and multi-family housing in limited areas. All four were put on hold indefinitely after the March 27th, 2018 public hearing.

What's left: Rental Application Ordinance and Affordable Housing Fund. These two proposals are stand alone policies. The rental application ordinance will reduce application fees and require a more landlord transparency about applicant denials. The Affordable Housing Fund will financially support the creation and preservation of affordable housing.