By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
WKTV Managing Editor
joanne@wktv.org
The need for homes has become a pressing issue in West Michigan, especially affordable homes.
A need that the Wyoming Community Foundation recognized in its 2022 grant awards, giving two local organizations about a third of its annual grant moneys. ICCF Community Homes, a nonprofit community developer that serves the Grand Rapids area including Wyoming, received $1,500, and The Source, a nonprofit based in the City of Wyoming and works with about 25 employers to help employees overcome barriers to work, received the largest grant, $5,000.
“In 2008, we had the great recession and we stopped building homes for about 10 years,” said Chris Hall, who works with ICCF Community Homes and is also a Wyoming Community Foundation board member. Hall noted that he excused himself on the discussion for the grant for ICCF Community Homes. “At the same time, the area is on all these lists, Great Place to Raise a Family, Hottest Zip Code…evidence of the fact that this is a great place to be and [people] want to be here.
“Over the last 10 years, people have been coming and staying, but we haven’t been building and now we are at a basic point of supply is low and demand is high.”
The housing need
According to a Grand Rapids Chamber housing study for Kent Country, it is estimated that the county needs about 22,139 new housing units to keep up with demand. The same study also showed that 63,000 or 27% of homeowners are cost-overburnened with more that 30% of household income dedicated to housing costs.
Because of the demand, it has raised housing prices, changing the face of the homeless to working class people, Hall said.
“It’s hard to thrive if you don’t know where you are going to sleep at night or next week or are they going to let me have my kids with me?” he said. “How are you going to thrive as an employee when that type of thing is going on?”
The Wyoming Community Foundation grant for ICCF Community Homes will be used to help replace a roof on a home on 30th Street in Wyoming. By being able to partner with the Foundation for the roof, it helps to keep rents low giving access to housing to more people, Hall said.
Rent assistance
“There use to be a lot of funding in the state for rent assistance but a lot of that funding has disappeared so this grant is going to help us with Wyoming residents,” said Sarah Westoby, a resource navigator for The Source. Westoby said most of the past rent assistance programs were COVID specific and have since ended. The Source recognizes that people are going to continue to have housing instabilities.
The Source works with a number of different organizations to help with food, child care, housing and other needs. Sometimes there are gaps in what can be provided and the Wyoming Community Foundation grant will help with those gaps, especially in rent, Westoby said.
Making Wyoming a better place
Every year, the Wyoming Community Foundation awards around $15,000 to about eight different organizations serving the population of the City of Wyoming.
“It’s not a whole lot of money but it is enough to make a difference,” Hall said, adding that the goal is to help make the Wyoming community a better place to live.
The other Wyoming Community Foundation grant recipients are:
Affinity Mentoring received $1,500 to continue to support the Mentoring Center sites at Godfrey Early Childhood Center, Godfrey Elementary and the Godfrey-Lee Middle School campus.
Hope Gardens received $2,700 to install garden infrastructure at four Godwin Heights and Wyoming Public Schools and expand hand-ons garden programming into daytime STEM lessons at three Wyoming schools.
Remembrance Ranch received $1,800 to provide teens with the backpacking equipment needed for participation at camps.
Senior Sing Along received $1,000 to provide music-based programming to seniors in Wyoming care facilities.
Strategic Workforce Solutions received $1,000 to offer MiCareerQuest to local students so they can explore careers in five high-demand industries: advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, construction, health sciences, and technology information.
YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids received $1,000 for an after school program for youth from low-income and at-risk background and scholarships for a statewide youth in government conference.
