Michigan lawmakers returned from spring recess with housing affordability clearly in their sights.

A bipartisan group shepherding a package of bills this week picked up strong support from a coalition of housing advocates and business groups, including the Home Builders Association of Michigan. That backing could help pass an initiative Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched earlier this year to cut red tape, boost housing supply and counter competing legislation from local governments.

The push comes as Whitmer approaches the end of her final term, lending the housing agenda the weight of a legacy initiative. She has overseen record state housing investment, hitting an early milestone of 75,000 new and rehabilitated units before raising the target to 115,000. The state has since logged nearly 87,000 units toward that goal.

The Housing Readiness bills, like similar reforms in California, Oregon, Montana and Texas, would supersede some local zoning authority — a flashpoint that has drawn resistance from municipal governments.

Local government pushes an alternative

The Michigan Municipal League countered in March with its own bill proposing a collaborative approach to building more housing.

“With bipartisan support, the MI Home Program provides tools and incentives that empower local governments,” Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said in a statement. “It combines state support with local implementation. It rewards flexibility and encourages local innovation.”

In March, the city council in Detroit suburb Sterling Heights voted to oppose the housing readiness package and to back the MI Home Program instead.

“A one-size-fits-all approach to zoning does not work, especially for cities like Sterling Heights that are largely built out and have long-established neighborhoods central to our character and service delivery,” Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor said in a statement after the vote.

Pre-empting local governments

The Whitmer-backed bills would reduce minimum parking requirements, modernize lot-size and setback rules, expand access to accessory dwelling units and allow multiunit buildings in more locations. Builders say those changes are essential to closing a supply gap that has deepened for two decades. Michigan produced roughly 54,000 new housing units in 2005 but only about 15,000 in 2024 — a collapse that has priced out working- and middle-class families statewide.

“The Housing Readiness Plan can help lower costs by reducing land use, modernizing outdated laws and regulations, and cutting lag and costly delays,” Dawn Crandall, executive vice president at the Home Builders Association of Michigan, said in announcing the coalition’s support. “Michigan needs policies to keep up with real-world conditions, and we know exactly what contributes to rising homebuilding and residential expenses.”

Whitmer tied the package to her broader “Build, Baby, Build” housing agenda, unveiled in her February State of the State address. At its center is a proposal for a state affordable housing tax credit layered on top of the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit — a program Michigan’s regional neighbors already use. Affordable housing groups have proposed a roughly $42 million annual credit to leverage additional federal dollars and spur the construction of homes for working families.

The governor has also pushed to eliminate what she calls “nonsensical construction requirements” — rules she says raise costs, slow permitting and keep shovels out of the ground.

“Housing availability and affordability are fundamental to economic mobility and growth in Michigan,” Joshua Lunger, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce’s senior vice president of advocacy, said when Whitmer announced her plan. “The Michigan Housing Readiness Package eliminates unnecessary code and regulatory obstacles so we can meet housing needs in Michigan.”