Housing Progress by the Numbers

Guest Opinion

By Yarrow Brown | Sept. 27, 2025

Northwest Michigan is moving the needle on housing, but we have a long way to go. You have probably heard us talk about the numbers over and over. Where are we right now? What is the state of housing in our region? You will have to come to the 11th Annual Northwest Michigan Housing Summit to dive in deeper, but I will give you a preview in this column.

The Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) for our region covers the housing need from 2023 to 2027, identifying an overall gap of 31,268 homes across our 10 counties, including 8,813 rental units (primarily for families earning up to 50 percent of the area median income) and 22,455 for-sale homes (especially for households earning 81–120 percent of AMI).

That’s the very workforce that keeps our communities running. The report is well researched and does include estimations and projects based on the data that was available at the time of the report.

Since we commissioned the report as a region, things have changed, and we have had housing built. Is most of it market rate? Yes! Are we anywhere near meeting the projected need in the HNA? No, but we also recognized from the outset that fully meeting the need would not be immediate or easy. The HNA is a guide and a resource for communities to better understand their housing landscape.

Through the Regional Housing Plan, the goal is to build 3,100 units per year, or 10 percent of the identified need. The HNA not only outlines recommended next steps for each county but also provides valuable information on how people are moving between counties and gives the status of our aging housing stock.

While we may not all agree that we need 31,000 units, I hope we can all agree that more housing opportunities are urgently needed. With a 0.7 percent vacancy rate, every unit matters. We continue to monitor and track where it’s being built and who it is serving.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) also tracks this and has a data portal you can visit at mihousingdata.org. Housing North tracks units in progress through the Housing Ready Program and in collaboration with the building departments and the state. Some projects may end up being housing and some may never become housing, so it can be tricky how the information is shared publicly.

What we do know is that since 2023, there have been 4,047 building permits issued, with an estimated 5,000 units in progress. On average, this is about half of what we need to meet our Regional Housing Plan goal of 10 percent per year. About 50 percent of these are market rate and about 50 percent are for those making 120 percent of AMI or below.

If we do the math, this is nowhere near our goal, but we are making progress—certainly more progress than five years ago.

Community-driven approaches to housing that aim for broad, systemic change through collaboration are key to further progress. I believe we are making huge strides in northwest Michigan, but we still have a long way to go to make sure everyone has the housing they need.

When we say we need housing for all, it is true. Our region needs both market rate housing and below-market rate housing to meet the incomes of year round residents.

Expanding housing opportunities allows people to move within the housing space, which in turn helps free up more affordable units. The vacancy rate could return to a healthy percentage (4-6 percent) over time. That is the ultimate goal.

We need everyone to show up, speak up, and collaboratively work together toward solutions—not work against each other. Growth and change are coming. How we handle it and work together to embrace the changes are what will demonstrate successful community development planning around housing.

Yarrow Brown is the executive director of Housing North, a 10-county housing agency serving northwest Michigan.