GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Business leaders from both the public and private sectors filled the Huizenga Grand Room at Meijer Gardens on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the future of the city.
“One of our top priorities at the [Grand Rapids Chamber] is to promote vibrancy, and one of those questions [that] comes out is, so, what do we do about it?” said Joshua Lunger, vice president of government affairs with the chamber.
The 2nd annual Policy Conference was the chamber’s answer to that question. Lunger said it’s about bringing business leaders into the conversation about what’s going on in their own communities.
“We find ways to collaborate. We want to focus on re-invigorating that,” Lunger said. “Some of that just comes down to being in the same room and talking about some of the things we have joint priorities on.”
One of the priorities that was discussed was housing.
Brooke Oosterman, director of Housing Next— an organization that focuses on housing solutions— took center stage at the conference and talked about the current housing crisis.
“What we know is that over the last two years, demand has increased in the city of Grand Rapids by 59 percent and in the rest of Kent County, 54 percent,” Oosterman said. “So, we continue to see an accelerated demand increase and an accelerated need for solutions.”
She said they’re seeing demand at all price points and income levels.
Overall, 35,000 housing units will need to be built over the next few years in order to meet that demand.
However, she said solutions are underway.
“The Revolving Loan Fund, the Kent County Loan Fund, was established last year and it provides low cost of capital for development and preservation of housing units here in Kent County,” Oosterman said. “It is the largest investment in such a tool at $17.5 million of local allocation that was able to garner an additional private investment and has a $58.3 million impact in the community.”
Law enforcement spoke at the conference as well about the current state of public safety.
GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom and Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young joined Lunger on stage, talking about the challenges they face from the rise in youth violence to under-resourced treatment programs to on-going staffing challenges.
“It’s an incredibly demanding role,” Sheriff LaJoye-Young said. “Staffing shortages make it more difficult because there’s forced overtime in a lot of circumstances, which really cuts down on the work-life balance that people have.”
The lack of balance directly impacts her staff’s mental health, which consequently leads to low retention rates, she said.
“Just since I’ve been here, 16 months, we’ve lost three of our retirees to suicide,” Chief Winstrom said on stage. “I had two close friends of mine in Chicago that died by suicide.”
Chief Winstrom worked in the Chicago Police Department for 20 years prior to taking the helm at GRPD.
He said he's starting to see a turnaround in terms of mental health.
“The culture has changed now where we have officers who [say] ‘I’m going to go down and see the counselor and I’m going to be back in 45 minutes,” he said. “So, it’s phenomenal.”
Sheriff LaJoye-Young told the crowd that it takes a community to make one safe. And, having conversations like these in a public setting are vital.
“I think it’s important that you know that people care,” she said. “That we’re all working together to have best outcomes for everybody.”
