MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — In Muskegon Heights, a new home is being built for the first time in nearly 20 years.
State, county, and city elected officials joined the homeowners in their celebratory ground-breaking Monday.
Sitting on three formerly vacant lots, the home will be a four-bedroom, two and a half bath, on Ray Street.
Montrell and Joy Dockery will live in the home with their children. With help from a conglomerate of organizations in Muskegon Heights, they were able to build their credit, qualify for down payment assistance, and hire a builder.
On Monday, they finally broke ground.
Both Joy and Montrell are born and raised in Muskegon Heights, as are their families. Both the Dockerys work in the Muskegon Public School system.
"It's always been in our plans to be stable in the community and raise our family here. Particularly in the City of Muskegon Heights,” Montrell Dockery said.
Local businesswoman Phyllis Loudermill has done a lot of the work in order to put the pieces together to bring home ownership back to Muskegon Heights, where more than half the homes in the city are rentals.
“These are educated people. There’s a stigma that only poor people would want to live here. These are very well-educated people, families, that chose to live here in this community, and bring their money back,” Loudermill said.
This new build is a step towards creating a good tax base in Muskegon Heights, something the community feels will allow for further improvement around the city for decades to come.
“Being able to build that generational wealth, and have something that we’ll be able to pass down to our children, and give them something they can hold on to. And let other people in our age group, young adults know that you don’t have to rent the rest of your life. You can be a homeowner,” Montrell said.
