Grand Rapids Combats the Affordable Housing Crisis through the Rental Assistance Center

Today was my first day back mentoring my student at a local elementary school in the City of Grand Rapids.

I was excited to catch up with my student, what had changed over the summer?

One thing that changed, he had moved once again. Having to be concerned about where you will be sleeping at night, is a concern that no kid should have.

In fact, Mel Trotter Ministries reports that in Kent and Ottawa

County there are over 3,300 homeless school-aged children.

 

 

Yesterday evening was Mel Trotter Ministries’ Annual Season of Hope Event. There, once again, was presented the information on the above photo. People become homeless due to a lack of relationships.

Our community needs to come around those who are vulnerable. One way that our community is doing that, is through the public/private collaborations to address the affordable housing crisis in Grand Rapids.

 

There is an Affordable Housing Crisis.

As many of you know, Kent County, like much of the U.S. is experiencing a serious lack of Affordable Housing.

The City of Grand Rapids has made concerted efforts to address problem through an advisory board, which has come up with strategies for addressing the Affordable Housing Crisis

Last year I posted on one of those tools that I deal with fir

st hand in representing landlords, real estate investors and property management companies – the Kent County Eviction Prevention Program. You can check out a blog post I wrote about that here

I have seen firsthand that this program can be a useful tool to keep families facing temporary emergencies in housing.

The EPP was developed as a collaborative effort between the City of Grand Rapids, Salvation Army of West Michigan, The Kent County Court System, the Michigan Department of Human Services and with funding provided by Steelcase.

Why I like this program.

This program provides an opportunity to keep people in housing who are on the verge of being homeless. The fact is, families are experiencing homelessness in Grand Rapids every day.

 

 

City, Grand Rapids Housing Commission create Rental Assistance Center

 

Today I read that the City of Grand Rapids and the Grand Rapids Housing Commission have established a two-year pilot for a Rental Assistance C

enter for low-income households. Check out the complete press release here.

According to the press release:

“The Rental Assistance Center – approved by the City Commission on Tuesday – will connect households that earn 80 percent or less of the Area Median Income (AMI) with vacant rental properties and refer “rent-ready” applicants to landlords, increasing the efficiency of the rental search for households and landlords.”

Further – households who are “not rent-ready” “who – do n

ot meet established landlord criteria – will be referred to a resident service coordinator who can help them overcome barriers to secure rental housing.”

 

 

Housing is a community problem. It is encouraging to see the great collaboration between government, private sector, non-profit sector.

We all have a role to play. I hope you can find yours.

 

e-mail: Jeshua@dwlawpc.com

Twitter: @JeshuaTLauka

www.dwlawpc.com