Background

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) developed the first ever Statewide Housing Plan in 2022 which listed many priority focus areas and goals that could address challenges to providing safe, healthy, affordable, accessible, and attainable housing. Housing issues across the state are varied, and some priorities may rank more highly in some communities than others and for that reason, MSHDA empowered the regions of the state to become partners in the implementation of the statewide strategy by forming Regional Housing Partnerships (RHPs); broadly encompassing groups of governmental, non-profit, and private partners that operate as part of the housing ecosystem within their respective regions. Each designated RHP was intended to develop their own sets of goals and strategies that aligned with the Statewide Housing Plan and formalize it into an Action Plan spreadsheet that they would submit by the end of September 2023.

Regional stakeholders in the six-county region consisting of Alger, Delta, Dickinson, Marquette, Menominee, and Schoolcraft nominated Central UP Planning & Development (CUPPAD) and Community Action Alger Marquette (CAAM) to co-lead the Central UP Regional Housing Partnership at a meeting facilitated by MSU-Extension in Spring 2023. Together, CUPPAD, CAAM, and regional partners worked to identify additional partners, select the region’s top priorities drawn from the statewide housing plan, and develop working groups who would be responsible for developing draft action plans for their respective priority area.

Working groups convened over August and September 2023 to select goals and implementable strategies that could become part of our regional Action Plan, which would have measurable steps and outcomes to guide their success. The draft plan identified seven goals and thirteen strategies that were determined to be important to the region; however only a maximum of five goals were able to be highlighted in the final Action Plan. Highlighted goals would become the focus of the first year, while secondary goals and strategies may be addressed and refined in subsequent years of implementation. The draft Central UP RHP Action Plan was released for public review on September 11^th, 2023, and included a public input survey to gather impressions. Public notices were shared with the region’s newspapers of general circulation, posted to organizations’ websites, shared across social media, and among our housing ecosystem partners. The Action Plan was submitted to MSHDA on September 29^th, and while “final”, MSHDA and the RHP anticipates this plan may evolve over time to address new or ongoing challenges.