HOUGHTON – An Aug. 22 release from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) announced its board recently approved the Michigan Housing Accelerator Fund, a new resource to expand affordable housing through investment in the development of mixed-income units.

According to the release, the funding program will provide financing options to assist in the development of mixed-income projects by bridging financing gaps through a combination of Authority funding sources that provide lower costs of capital and require a commitment to affordability.

Through this new tool, it goes on to say, more affordable housing units will be produced in addition to units already being created or preserved annually through Low-

Income Housing Tax Credits and other existing affordable housing resources.

Houghton City Manager Eric Waara said MSHDA has many “tools in its toolbox, and Houghton is using several of them to increase its available housing stock. The tools include financing programs and incentives, which include payment in lieu of taxes (PILT); Brownfield for housing; low-income tax credits, Housing Tax Increment Financing Program, among others.

“You have all these different tools out there,” Waara said, “and these tools will dictate the type of housing that they’re building.”

Currently, he said, the Houghton Housing Commission is working with a developer for 16 to 20 housing units in the Houghton Water Works area. Another developer is studying property off Sharon Avenue, with construction of 49 units.

What few people realize, said Waara, is the Houghton Housing Authority does not necessarily construct everything it manages. In many instances a particular housing unit was built by a developer, and in some cases, it may be managed by the housing authority, Waara said. There are multiple programs available that help to reduce or eliminate financial risks involved in building.”The programs help to de-risk the investment on the part of the developer,” he said.

The Houghton Housing Authority owns and manages 30 single family homes located throughout the city. There are Two,three and four-bedroom homes that are designed for families, but supply falls short of demand. Yet, Houghton is pressing forward to create more living spaces to ease an ongoing shortage.

“The Houghton Housing Commission maintains a waiting list of applicants that are contacted as soon as openings occur,” the HHC website states.

The aim of the city is to ease the shortage, while expanding housing across the economic spectrum, from first-time, entry level buyers, to low to moderate income, to upper income-level housing.