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City staff and intern preview draft 2025 housing report, outline housing gap and policy options
Summary
Planning staff and an intern presented an outline of a 2025 housing report that maps housing needs, identifies a shortage of nonconventional and attainable units, and recommends zoning reforms and financial tools to increase housing production and quality.
Planning and community development staff introduced a draft outline of a 2025 housing report at the Mount Pleasant Planning Commission meeting on July 10, and the commission provided preliminary feedback on the report's structure and recommended focus areas.
An intern with the planning department presented data and draft findings that staff said are intended to inform future development and policy work tied to the city's 2050 master plan. The presentation summarized housing-unit types, population and household trends, housing-condition concerns, market indicators and an estimated production target to fill the city's housing gap.
Presenter highlights included: 609 housing units sold in Mount Pleasant from January 2022 through March 2025 with a median sale price of about $170,000; a stock mix the presenter described as roughly 40% single-family and 43% multiunit, and a market that staff characterized as a seller's market with low inventory and rising prices (presentation cited a 29% price increase over three years). The presenter said 61% of owner-occupied housing units were built before 1970 and flagged a shortage of nonconventional or 'missing middle' housing types.
Staff and the presenter offered specific gap estimates: the city will need about 962 rental units and 567 for-sale units in the next five years to meet projected demand, according to the presentation. Vacancy rates cited from a local survey were 3.9% for market-rate units, 0.3% for tax-credit/subsidized units and 0.6% for nonconventional rentals.
Commissioners asked about available infill and vacant parcels; staff identified several potential sites (a 12-acre Cross Lanes property, a roughly 10-acre Lee Properties site north of Isabella Citizens for Health, and about 20 acres along Bradley on the west side) and said staff will include a neighborhood-level map of vacancies, density and zoning readiness in the draft report. Commissioners and staff discussed whether current zoning allows housing types such as pocket neighborhoods, tiny houses and live-work units; staff said the city's 2018 zoning ordinance already enables many newer typologies but that limited provisions (for example, limits on number of buildings per lot or home-occupation floor-area limits) may need targeted text amendments.
Staff described next steps that include condensing the material for public consumption (a shorter summary or two-page brief) while retaining a technical version for developers and real-estate professionals. Staff said they plan additional outreach, including a real-estate-agent survey, and identified a related Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) housing-readiness grant as part of the department's work program.
