- The City of East Lansing continued to focus on housing this month as part of its comprehensive plan update.
- The City welcomed neighbors to the Hannah Community Center Tuesday to learn about the state of housing, what resources are available to save costs, and how to prioritize different housing types.
- Video shows neighbors offering their perspective on the state of housing in the neighborhood.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
In the past few years, there have been some big changes in the neighborhood when it comes to housing, like more of these high-rise apartment buildings appearing around town. And more changes could be coming as part of the City's comprehensive plan update.
"We're really here to talk about housing economics," Ryan Kilpatrick said.
Ryan Kilpatrick knows the housing market across the mitten well through his work with Flywheel Community Development.
"How does housing get built in today's marketplace," Kilpatrick said. "How do we regulate it?"
It's a West Michigan-based company focused on developing neighborhoods. Kilpatrick led a conversation Tuesday at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center about the state of housing. He says it's a unique situation.
"Student housing market puts a lot of pressure, in the school season, on housing demand and housing supply," he said.
But Kilpatrick says that demand isn't matched by supply in the area. According to census data, East Lansing has 16,590 housing units for 47,390 residents, and an average of 2.87 people per household. Kilpatrick noted that means there's a shortage of about 2,300 homes in the neighborhood—just one of the problems noted in Tuesday's clinic.
While Tuesday's event was mainly for educational purposes, East Lansing Principal Planner Landon Bartley says there will be more upcoming events for residents to share their perspectives, which will be taken into consideration for the comprehensive plan.
"Next week on Monday we're going to have an event downtown that's going to have more feedback opportunities," Bartley said.
The event will take place in the Ann Street Plaza downtown from 4 to 6:30 pm.
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