As Lansing seniors gather Wednesday for the Mayor’s Senior Fair , housing officials say affordable senior housing remains in short supply, particularly for one-bedroom units.
The free fair, held from 9 a.m. to noon at Gardner International Magnet School, features more than 60 organizations providing information on housing, health care, transportation, wellness services, food and entertainment for older adults.
Doug Fleming, executive director of the Lansing Housing Commission, said demand for affordable housing far exceeds available units, and not just for seniors.
“There's not enough of it at all,” Fleming said. “When we open our wait list for any project, we can get up to 2500 to 3000 applications in a seven day period.”
Fleming said many seniors are downsizing and seeking one-bedroom apartments.
“There are fewer of the one-bedroom units, and the people that are in there stay longer, which means that the wait times are going to be longer for those units as well,” he said.
To help address the need, the Lansing Housing Commission recently received two 9% low-income housing tax credit awards through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Fleming said one project will redevelop a historic building at 927 S. Washington Ave. into 50 senior-eligible units. Another project will renovate the commission-owned Oliver Gardens property and add 16 units to the existing 30-unit development.
“So, in the next two years, we will be bringing on another 66 units of affordable housing targeted primarily to seniors in this community,” Fleming said.
The commission typically opens waiting lists three to five months before a development is ready for occupancy. Fleming said all Housing Commission units are voucher-based, with residents generally paying 30% of their income toward rent under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines.
The agency receives thousands of applications when waiting lists open and uses a lottery system to manage demand. Fleming said the commission also faces a roughly 40% non-response rate from applicants selected to move forward in the process.
Despite the challenges, Fleming said the commission continues to look for opportunities to expand affordable senior housing.
“We understand there's a need. We're working to fill that need,” he said. “Affordable housing as a whole is a national problem, and Lansing is just symptomatic of a national problem of not enough affordable housing, not just for seniors but also for multifamily as well.”