CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITRH ANNE GIROUX, MARQUETTE LAND BANK
The Marquette County Land Bank Authority has received a $50,000 grant to work on housing needs in the area.
The money will be used to hire someone to spearhead the effort, while working with other local agencies toward that goal of increasing affordable housing opportunities in the Marquette area.
“We’ve been struggling for years with capacity limitations,” Anne Giroux, the MCLBA Executive Director told RRN News. “We know there are issues, and we as a local government agency want to be able to help. We want to be able to apply for funding that we have access to, to create more affordable housing units. We just have a lack of staff capacity to really get sites shovel-ready to be able to take advantage of these funding opportunities.”
Giroux says the money in this $50,000 grant will be used to hire a person to head up these efforts, and she’s hoping to be able to make that position permanent down the road, with the help of several other local agencies.
“We’re thrilled to be chosen (for the grant) to try to solve some of these housing challenges,” Giroux said.
Giroux says the hope is to have the new person hired by January 1st, and that person will be armed with information from a study that’s going on right now that hopes to provide possible solutions to these housing issues.
MARQUETTE COUNTY PRESS RELEASE WITH MORE INFO POSTED BELOW
Marquette County Land Bank Authority (MCLBA), working alongside InvestUP and the Lake Superior Community Partnership (LSCP), secured $50,000 from the Michigan Office of Rural Development to support hiring a Housing Specialist, bolstering efforts to increase housing in Marquette County and the surrounding region.
This allocation is from the inaugural round of Rural Readiness Grants, a new program aimed at helping rural communities build long-term capacity. Out of roughly 90 initial submissions, the MCLBA was among just 21 recipients statewide. The grant will be complemented by local contributions from MCLBA, InvestUP, and the LSCP Chairman’s Circle.
In addition to the $50,000 Rural Readiness Grant, the Community Foundation of Marquette County (CFMC) has awarded a $25,000 grant from the Rod and Holly Aldrich Donor Advised Fund to the MCLBA to help address community housing needs. This contribution will further leverage the investment in capacity to address housing needs in the region.
Anne Giroux, Executive Director of the MCLBA, commented, “It is an honor to be selected to receive these funds, especially given the competitive nature of this first round. We value our strong relationship with the Office of Rural Development and appreciate their trust in our proposal. The MCLBA has worked tirelessly to build relationships and collaborate with many partners, including InvestUP, LSCP, and the Community Foundation of Marquette County, and we’re looking forward to the impact of having a full-time position dedicated to creating new housing opportunities.”
To achieve the overall goal of adding more housing, the Housing Specialist will undertake various responsibilities, including:
- Engaging in Marquette County Local Government Task Force quarterly meetings.
- Overseeing the Target Market Analysis.
- Creating development plans for multi-unit housing projects at different sites in Marquette County
- Coordinating plans for housing development on sites where blight elimination dollars have been or will be spent
- Developing an online resource library of tools and funding sources for land banks and local units of government to access and use in the future, including a locally focused pattern book of housing units/blueprints
- Participating in regional discussions, trainings, and workshops
- Assisting municipalities outside of Marquette County with housing projects
- Linking communities to the InvestUP Housing fund.
Christopher Germain, LSCP’s CEO, emphasized the synergy of collaborations: “Housing is a complex issue and requires many partners all rowing in the same direction. Anne’s work at the MCLBA is second to none, and the LSCP has been honored to work with the MCLBA to collectively facilitate new housing throughout Marquette County, in addition to the work of our friends at InvestUP. In recent years, the LSCP has dedicated significant staff time to housing efforts, and now – thanks to this investment from the state and local partners – we’ll be able to enhance those efforts even further and add direct capacity to one of our key local partners. This added capacity will be a game changer.”
Zosia Eppensteiner, CEO of CFMC added, “We are grateful to our donors who recognize needs such as housing in our community and we are happy to leverage those dollars and partner with public organizations addressing these needs.”
The specialist will also facilitate access to regional resources like InvestUP’s Build U.P. Housing Fund. Thanks to InvestUP’s investment, the Housing Specialist will extend their services to other Upper Peninsula communities, enriching the entire region.
Marty Fittante, InvestUP CEO, added “We couldn’t be more pleased to enhance our ongoing partnership with local organizations such as the MCLBA and the LSCP. Housing is a critical issue that requires multiple tools to address. We look forward to this position’s impact and are excited to see how it will benefit the entire Upper Peninsula.”
Plans for the specialist’s recruitment are underway, targeting an early 2024 appointment. The current grant ensures the role’s sustainability for about fifteen months.
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