Battle Creek community members gathered at the Kool Family Community Center Monday to discuss the city’s housing challenges.
At the center of the event was Flywheel Community Development Services CEO Ryan Kilpatrick, who gave a presentation on the many issues in Battle Creek's housing market.
It addressed issues from affordability to the lack of new homes, with even the existing houses on the market still having their share of issues.
"70% of of the housing stock are single family homes. Meanwhile, almost the same percentage are very small households, one or two people," Kilpatrick said during the presentation.
"We have single adults who need to downsize or they got divorced or they never had a partner, or they're just trying to launch a career. They don't want a single family house, right?"
Kilpatrick said the city could address this with middle-sized housing like small cottages or townhomes, which are more affordable and may better match the needs of these residents.
Ideas like denser neighborhoods and more housing subsidies were also addressed, but some still felt there were topics that went overlooked.
Rebecca Spenelli said she owns a local rental property company which focuses on lower-income households.
She said the presentation didn’t accurately reflect the needs of local residents.
“We have a huge need for lower income housing. We have a huge need for main level housing and some of the ordinances and things that are in place within our community are preventing us from being able to help those that need to be served in our community.”
This was echoed by SHARE Center Executive Director Robert Elchert.
"It was largely focused on middle-income folks. There was a conversation about how lack of affordable housing is a major barrier, but largely I would like to see more of a focus on those folks who are living off of Social Security income," Elchert said.
“A lot of those people are actually spending upwards of 80% on their housing, 80% of their monthly income. And with HUD's definition of 30% being housing burden, you can imagine what it's like to be paying 80% of your monthly income on just your housing.”
But both added that they were happy to see the community discuss the issue at all.
"Before a lot of these needs were just kind of swept under the rug. So the fact that we are all coming together and we are all talking and we are all addressing these, that is definitely a step in the right direction," Rebecca Spenelli said.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
