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HUD official visits Lansing to showcase Walter French School redevelopment
Summary
HUD’s Secretary joined Mayor Andy Schor and Rep. Tom Barrett at the Walter French School to highlight a 76-unit historic rehabilitation that used federal tax credits, CDBG and other HUD tools to create affordable housing with on-site childcare and market-rate units.
Mayor Andy Schor welcomed federal and state leaders to the Walter French School on the morning of the event and framed the project as a successful use of federal housing tools. “We are here honored to welcome the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,” Schor said, introducing the site as a model of public-private cooperation that brought housing and child care to a formerly blighted building.
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, identified in the transcript by role, described the conversion as a historic rehabilitation that produced 76 housing units and praised the partnership among the federal government, the state, local government and nonprofit and private partners. “When you can reimagine a building, a historic building that’s been vacant for 15 years… now makes it 76 units and homes for precious families,” the Secretary said, highlighting the project’s mix of modernized living space and preserved historic architecture.
Officials credited a mix of financing and programs used on the project: state historic tax credits, federal grants and programs administered through HUD, Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Mayor Schor urged continued availability of those formula and federal funds, saying they helped the city layer federal and state assistance to deliver housing for low-income residents and people experiencing homelessness alongside some market-rate units.
The Secretary emphasized HUD’s ‘‘all-of-the-above’’ approach—working with private developers, nonprofits and faith-based groups alongside municipal and state partners—to replicate the model elsewhere. He noted on-site child care and larger unit sizes as features that support family formation and community stability.
The event concluded with a short question-and-answer period before officials left the site for follow-up engagement. No formal policy actions or votes were taken at the event.
