“To really thrive, you have to have everybody. The vibrancy of the city (of Grand Rapids) is the attraction. It shouldn’t be available only to certain people. It’s not accessible for everyone.”
In an NBC News story from July 21, 2023, Diana Olick reported that growing home prices nationwide are pricing new homeowners out of the market. She stated that sale prices are up over two percent from last year, according to Redfin, while mortgage rates (Have mortgage rates increased? The comparison may be more clear if both have moved similarly.) are at seven percent. It means that affordability is at an all-time low, and some parents are deciding to purchase homes for their adult children who are otherwise priced out of homeownership.
“My son would need a lot of help from us to go on his own without roommates,” says Lucas Leverett, a Westside resident and advocate in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When Lucas was commuting to college, he moved in with roommates to afford a place outside of living with family. “I don’t think young people can afford” not to share housing expenses with friends due to the cost of housing. “It used to be that you would get a job and then get a place to live. Now that’s not the case.”
Redfin data for Kent County shows that the median sale price in June of 2023 was $325,000, up 4.5% from the previous year. The average time on the market was six days, the same as last year. Compare that to June of 2020, when the median sale price was under $250,000 and, on average, sold in under ten days. Leverett wonders if he and his family can continue to afford their current rental arrangement or even afford to purchase a home.
“Right now, we’re making no decisions about housing until our son knows what he wants to do.” Leverett says he and his partner have options and know that not everyone has that luxury. “Everybody should be able to have housing options.”
Housing Choice
Leverett was born and raised on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee. “My family lived in Murfreesboro, and we rented a few places on the outskirts of Nashville.” When he was 18, he moved in with his grandmother, which allowed him to commute to college in his hometown. “She made sure I was eating right and taking care of my finances.”
The current housing challenges are not unique to Kent County. Across the country, communities have seen once affordable housing increase in cost and decrease in availability. Leverett shared that he and his partner needed additional space when expecting their son. So, in 2007 they moved into a duplex at $850 per month in Nashville, TN. “It was middle of the road in terms of rent, and it was a multi-ethnic neighborhood. We lived there for seven years.”
When Leverett’s son was about seven or eight years of age, the family moved to a neighborhood behind Tennessee State University, as it was near the son’s school. When the family moved in, rent started at $1,050. This was a major jump from the $800-$850 per month rate they had been paying for previous units. “We were shocked by how much things had increased,” says Leverett. “At the money we were earning, we were struggling to afford to live in the area where our child would be going to school. It had gentrified from when I was younger,” said Leverett. The ability to afford to live near their son’s school got Leverett thinking more significantly about housing costs.
Housing Kent, the backbone organization of the Housing Stability Alliance, began asking what factors across the system were impacting housing affordability, particularly for renters in Kent County. According to the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), Michigan’s rental units have seen a 25% increase in cost between 2019 and 2022. The median wage has only increased 18% during the same period. Drilling down further to the Grand Rapids Metro area, the median wage has risen 14% over the same timeframe, while rent has increased 27%. For a typical rental unit, pricing has gone from $1,129 to $1,519. The income needed to afford a typical unit went from $40,644 per year to $54,684 per year.
While median wages have increased, they haven’t kept pace with the rate at which rental unit costs have increased since 2012, causing a decline in rental affordability. Rental housing has increased by 4.7% year-over-year, while wages have only increased by 2.2%. That’s less than half the amount needed to keep up. This means often renters are spending $400 per month more than they can afford in rent as affordable rental housing is scarce.
For individuals and families in Kent County, almost half of all renters (46%) spend more than 30% of their income on housing expenses, which means they are potentially one auto repair or medical bill away from missing a rent payment and losing housing, unable to find more affordable housing options.
Leverett said, “If no one can live where they want to go for services, then what are they going to do?” Housing choice has become challenging for individuals and families, as areas they would choose to live in are less affordable.
Housing choice for everyone is what the Housing Stability Alliance is working toward. Ultimately, individuals and families should be able to find housing they can afford in the area of Kent County in which they choose to live. Whether urban, suburban, or rural parts of the county, there should be safe, quality, affordable housing, allowing all to be housed by choice.
“In the next 10 years, can we continue to afford how we’re living or be able to buy?” This is the question Leverett and his partner ask themselves as they watch the housing market in Kent County change. “Regular folks don’t get a seat at the table to make group decisions,” which impacts many within the community. “To really thrive, you have to have everybody. The vibrancy of the city (of Grand Rapids) is the attraction. It shouldn’t be available only to certain people. It’s not accessible for everyone.”
