What's happening: The Marquette County Land Bank Authority has secured a $50,000 grant aimed at addressing housing needs in the area. This funding will be allocated to hire a director for the initiative, collaborating closely with local organizations.
Housing crisis across the region: “Housing is a complex issue and requires many partners all rowing in the same direction," said Christopher Germain, CEO of the Lake Superior Community Partnership (LSCP). “In recent years, the LSCP has dedicated significant staff time to housing efforts, and now – thanks to this investment from the state and local partners – we’ll be able to enhance those efforts even further and add direct capacity to one of our key local partners. This added capacity will be a game changer.”
He said LSCP has been honored to work with the Marquette County Land Bank Authority to collectively facilitate new housing throughout Marquette County, "in addition to the work of our friends at InvestUP.”
What they're saying: “We’ve been struggling for years with capacity limitations,” Anne Giroux, the MCLBA Executive Director, told RRN News. “We know there are issues, and we as a local government agency want to be able to help. We want to be able to apply for funding that we have access to, to create more affordable housing units. We just have a lack of staff capacity to really get sites shovel-ready to be able to take advantage of these funding opportunities.”
What's next: After a brief hiring search, the land bank hopes to have a director in place by 2024. That director will then spearhead the project with the help of various authorities.
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