Kalamazoo with Housing Deficit

The housing crisis has affected many states and cities in America, and Kalamazoo in Michigan was one of the most impacted by this phenomenon. A few years ago, the city began to have neighborhoods with countless destroyed houses, homes in poor condition, and other residences that were abandoned by owners who lost them after a foreclosure process.

As a result of this situation, the city took control of all those homes and created zoning reform measures to develop new housing projects on those occupied lots in order to improve communities and recover the city’s economy.

Through federal funds, the city purchased most of those dilapidated houses, and instead of repairing them, they demolished them and developed single-family housing projects on the land that complied with the area’s zoning.

Although the authorities achieved an improvement in the city’s real estate market, the construction of this type of housing reduced supply, limited density, and left few housing options for residents.

On the other hand, the land that was not purchased by the city was acquired by builders and real estate developers who focused their constructions on the population with high economic resources, instead of creating housing that would be more affordable for people with medium and low incomes.

All these constructions, in general, caused a significant decrease in the supply of affordable housing, and this trend continues to rise to this day. This housing shortage is attributed, in part, to investor builders, but mainly to the poor zoning strategies implemented by the Kalamazoo city council, which demolished all the properties and invested large sums of public resources in the construction of new single-family properties.

Another reason that may be a decisive factor for the housing shortage is the lack of turnover. Many older people still remain in their large homes, which they are not interested in selling for fear of the high-interest rates they would have to assume if they decide to buy a smaller home. If they did so, their properties could be acquired by younger families, but they are still reluctant to sell.

Regarding affordable housing under the rental contract modality, the city of Kalamazoo also has a highly marked housing deficit, and this is due to the overwhelming high monthly costs that residents would have to assume when renting one.

The solution provided by experts in the field is to incentivize the construction of apartment complexes that can meet the high demand for housing that the city currently has. With the construction of new homes, the supply would improve, the prices of currently available homes would decrease slightly, and demand would improve while efforts are made to control the housing deficit.

All these measures should be complemented with increases in subsidies for investors and developers that can help improve housing affordability and, mainly, implement more assistance measures so that more residents can opt to buy a home.

Available foreclosures:

Kalamazoo: 150 homes available.

By Elías DaSilva | 08 de Noviembre de 2024.