Proposed Plan
Will Increase the Cost of Housing
We can protect the environment without
making housing more expensive!
Grand Rapids has been hard at work to address the growing housing needs of our city.
Unfortunately, there are items in the “Climate Action Adaptation Plan,” known as the CAAP, that will make it harder to build and more expensive to own or buy a home.
The cost of specific CAAP Actions will take Grand Rapids housing out of reach for many people. It would make homeownership more costly in our City. Grand Rapids would be less attractive for homebuying.
The CAAP needs to align with the City’s goal of addressing housing affordability.
Areas For Concern
Additional Costs to Homeowners
CAAP energy scoring requirements and murky mandatory costs of home energy efficiency improvements will hinder housing affordability. Grand Rapids homeowners cannot afford more housing costs. People will be priced out of City housing options.
Hinders Growth
The CAAP calls for stricter building codes. Code costs are added into the cost of a home, would be paid for by Grand Rapidians, and hinder housing affordability. For example, the Home Builders Association of Michigan said recent code changes added $15,000 to the price of a new home.
ANSWERS ARE ABSENT
While the City has not provided a complete breakdown of what energy scoring requirements would look like, the compliance costs stand to substantially impact homeowners.
Requiring energy efficiency home improvements and adding requirements to a home sale would create costs and problems for housing. Along with more stringent requirements for building housing, these new rules and costs would hurt homeowners. Ultimately, investment in City housing would suffer.
Voluntary efforts and incentives to improve energy efficiency could support the environment and help housing. But requiring new costs on housing will make housing opportunities less attainable and less affordable.
CAAP Actions that create costly rules which would hamper housing affordability need to be removed.
The answer for Grand Rapids is found in fixing the CAAP.
FIX THE CAAP
Grand Rapids can achieve CAAP ambitions to support a healthy environment while we strive to support more access to and the affordability of housing.
Rising the cost to maintain or purchase a home will not help Grand Rapidians. City Commissioners can help by supporting the removal of CAAP Actions that would require costly home improvements.
Act today and urge your City Commissioner to protect our homes as they support the environment. Ask them to Fix the CAAP and support the removal of CAAP Actions that would raise housing costs that hinder housing affordability.
Contact Your
Commissioner TODAY!
Paid for by Greater Regional Alliance of REALTORS®, 660 Kenmoor Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546