DETROIT – A first of its kind investment to put a dent in a major problem in metro Detroit.
“We’ve talked to people from all over the state,” said Chad Benson, rental development director for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. “From the UP, all the way down to the southern parts of the state and rural areas and in more urban areas, the issue is the same.”
It’s called missing middle housing, which generally represents homes, townhouses, or multi-family apartment buildings for families making between $50,000 and $83,000 a year. Michigan’s median income last year, according to Census data, was $3,000 squarely in the middle of the missing middle.
MSHDA opened the tap on $50 million in federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act for developers to start building new homes. The money is meant to offset construction costs to keep rent or mortgages low for those families for 10 years.
“We’re really hopeful that it’s going to, you know, go a long ways in order to help sort of alleviate the burden that you know, missing middle households are having in terms of finding units that they can afford to rent or buy,” Benson said.
For now, just $15 million is being made available for developers, with more to come next spring but it will be a waiting game for places to be built. The plan is also to set aside 30% of the total money to be used in rural communities.
The money is first come, first serve, according to MSHDA. Developers can apply online here at MSHDA-MissingMiddle@michigan.gov.
Copyright 2022 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.
DETROIT – Walking into the North American International Auto Show for the first time since January 2019, you can’t help but notice that the auto industry has come a long way since the last auto show in Detroit. Specifically on the development of electric vehicles.
After getting a look at some of the electric vehicles on the auto show floor, I came across a display area called Autel. It looked clean and futuristic. Perhaps a glimpse of what’s to come in the coming decades. I stopped to talk to some of the experts on the floor to learn more about what Autel is.
Autel stands for automotive intelligence. The company has been making automotive diagnostic tools for the past 18 years.
On display, they had home chargers and commercial ones. The home chargers were much smaller and take longer to charge your car. About 6 hours overnight can get you a full charge and they start out at around $500. These would likely be placed in your garage.
The commercial ones are being marketed to places like grocery stores, gas stations, car dealerships and apartment complexes. On display, they had a small prototype of what parking lots could look like at these facilities.
The commercial chargers start at around $30,000 and will get you around 60 kilowatts. But commercial places will likely want to purchase ones that have around 240 kilowatts, which can fully charge an electric vehicle in about 30 mins. This way people can park their cars, plug in, grab a few groceries or snacks and then be on their way with a full charge. Those cost about $67,000.
If you’re headed to the Detroit Auto Show, I recommend checking out the Autel display. A pretty cool glimpse of what our future could look like!
Copyright 2022 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.