The need for affordable home repairs throughout West Michigan, and especially in Allegan County, is great. A housing assessment for Allegan County published in Fall 2023 shows Allegan not only faces a shortage of new housing (a 6,200-unit gap over the next five years) but also needs to maintain and repair existing housing.
“Home repair is a crucial part of homeownership. Recent data shows that nearly three in four low-income homeowners have at least one home repair issue, and Lakeshore Habitat understands that maintaining your home while struggling with limited financial resources is a significant challenge,” Lakeshore Habitat Executive Director Dave Rozman says. “We are very thankful for the opportunity to provide help and hope to homeowners in Allegan through affordable home repairs.”
Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity launched its home repair program in the city of Allegan. The program, funded primarily by a grant from Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), will provide affordable home repair relief to low-income households in the city of Allegan.
Since 1990, Lakeshore Habitat has been providing affordable home repairs to families in our service area, and we are excited to expand our home repair program to the city of Allegan as a result of this funding.
“Through this collaborative partnership, owner-occupied homes in Allegan’s neighborhoods will be improved, resulting in more people living in a safe and healthy environment and adding to the overall quality of our community,” Allegan City Manager Joel Dye says.
Building more housing units is important to reducing the overall cost of housing, says Lauren Hunt-VanderPloeg, community impact officer at the Allegan County Community Foundation. However, if current housing stock isn’t maintained, its a losing battle, she says.
The Foundation’s "Healthy Housing" workgroup focuses on efforts that keep people safe and healthy inside their current homes, including critical repairs, weatherization, utility and rent assistance, well and septic loan support, and blight removal.
“If we can preserve the stock we have, then the addition of new stock only puts us closer to getting out of this housing shortage that we are facing,” Hunt-VanderPloeg says. “If we let our current houses get run-down and condemned, then adding new stock only balances things out and keeps us in the same spot that we are in.”
An additional grant from the Allegan County Community Foundation funded the hiring of new Home Repair Coordinator Jackson Nickolay, who will manage the Home Repair Program.
“It is an important goal for a community to see to it that our neighbors have warm, safe, and dry homes in which to live and pursue a full life,” Nickolay says. “I am grateful for the chance to work and partner with those who seek to make that goal a reality.”
Housing need — at every level
The need for housing is at every income level, says Chris Kleinjans, community impact officer – housing with the Allegan County Community Foundation.
Kleinjans started in the newly created role in August. A new housing stock workgroup with representatives from across multiple sectors, is examining the issue from multiple angles.
“This is a complex issue and there’s a lot of in some cases hesitancy to wade into it because it is so complex,” Kleinjans says. “This isn’t a matter of convenience, It’s a matter of necessity to make sure the county stays vibrant in all the ways we want it to be.”
Allegan County is suffering from a dearth of labor, partly because of the lack of housing, Kleinjans says. The lack of housing is the No. 1 inhibitor to business growth, Kleinjans says, citing a Lakeshore Advantage study.
Lakeshore Habitat’s new home repair program won’t increase housing stock, but it will improve it.
Potential home repair projects include energy efficiency repairs (insulation, windows, etc.), accessibility improvements such as ramps, minor home repairs (gutters, unsecured entries, health and safety repairs, and electrical issues) exterior rehabilitation (siding and failed structural components), and roof repairs.
The program will provide a variety of funding for qualified applicants from grants, loans, and partner organizations, making the cost of doing repairs through Lakeshore Habitat generally more affordable than through other contracted labor.
To qualify for the Allegan city home repair program, the residence must be an owner-occupied, non-mobile home within the city limits, and the homeowner must be within 30% to 80% of the Area Annual Median Income for Allegan County (approximately $23,000 to $63,000) and must be willing to partner with Lakeshore Habitat to complete the repairs. Lastly, decisions will be made based on the availability of funds and the evaluation of the need of the repair.
While these grant funds are specifically for home repairs in the city of Allegan, Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity also offers home repair services for families within its geographical service area, including most of Ottawa, Allegan, and Van Buren counties.
The grant allowed Lakeshore Habitat to expand its repair services into the city of Allegan, but the nonprofit also relies heavily on public support for its programs. To support Lakeshore Habitat’s Home repair program and help keep people in the homes they already own, visit
https://www.lakeshorehabitat.org/support-us
For more information and to apply for the program, visit
lakeshorehabitat.org/home-repair-allegan or email jnickolay@lakeshorehabitat.org.