State of Michigan officials are celebrating meeting their initial goal of building 75,000 new housing units by next year.
That puts the state around two-thirds of the way to its new goal of creating 115,000 new units.
Amy Hovey is executive director of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Hovey said she wants to see state and local officials make it easier to build in the state.
She supports a proposal to set aside money in the budget for local governments that loosen their zoning laws.
“We are always looking for creativity, new ways of doing things to get more housing built here. I love the idea of incentivizing governments to look at their zoning and improve their zoning and become housing ready,” Hovey said following an event in Grand Rapids to celebrate the milestone.
Hovey says the state put over $2 billion toward housing in its most recent budget.
State lawmakers are behind on passing a new budget for the next fiscal year.
To that end, Governor Gretchen Whitmer is meeting Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) and House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) in a story first reported by MIRS News and confirmed by the Michigan Public Radio Network.
The meeting comes after talks over Michigan’s next budget have been stalled for weeks. Last week, Brinks told reporters she hadn’t met one on one with Hall since July.
If the impasse doesn’t break by October 1, the state could face a partial government shutdown. Governor Gretchen Whitmer warns that wouldn’t serve anyone.
“I will not be the holdup, I can tell you that,” Whitmer said before adding, “It behooves no one for us to miss that deadline. It will be bad for everyone. Most importantly, it would be bad for the people of Michigan.”
Whitmer has previously said she didn’t believe a budget was complete without a plan to fund road repairs. Disagreements over road funding, K-12 school spending, and the absence of a full budget proposal from the Michigan House are some factors that slowed talks.
Whitmer thanked Senate Democrats for advancing budget talks by releasing their budget proposal in May, in line with usual timelines. Last week, Hall said a proposal from the House could come after Labor Day.
After Monday’s event, Whitmer also weighed in further on the debate over using National Guard troops to patrol American cities.
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order aimed at expanding troop deployments in Washington D.C. and hinted at wanting to send soldiers to other cities like Chicago.
He also deployed National Guard troops in Los Angeles in June over the objections of California's governor. Usually, it requires permission from the governor to use the National Guard except for cases like rebellion or invasion.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer didn’t say whether she fears Trump using troops in Michigan. But she said the Michigan National Guard doesn’t need to get involved anywhere else.
“Our National Guard is the best of the best of the best. We are [aware] of no need to send Michigan National Guard outside of the state. We need them here. I am the Commander in Chief and it’s important to me that we continue to have the Guard if and when we need them for the purposes of keeping people safe in the State of Michigan,” Whitmer said.
Trump has said he wants soldiers to help out law enforcement.
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