KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Affordable housing has been an ongoing issue for the city of Kalamazoo, but now, city leaders are pushing to invest more than $2 million toward a solution.
City commissioners voted to use $1.5 million in ARPA funds to rehabilitate 48 low-income housing units.
“In exchange for the rehab that will be done, there will be a Housing Choice Voucher recipient, or family, that will move into those units,” Housing Development Supervisor Sharilyn Parsons explained.
The 48 units are on the market currently, but the plan is to make them more affordable with the vouchers.
“There are families who have this asset and this opportunity, but there's no place for them to go to move in. So this will open up the market so they have more places to go to live,” Parsons said.
In addition to the ARPA funds, city commissioners voted to allocate $770,000 toward building eight affordable single-family homes.
Parsons says those homes are scheduled to be developed and constructed in the next year.
