2026 West Michigan Housing Summit: Recap

Kicking Off the West Michigan Housing Summit

Matt Cook, VP of Corporate Social Responsibility at Lake Michigan Credit Union, welcomes attendees on behalf of the summit's sponsor, LMCU, one of the state's largest residential lenders, and frames the day's conversation around housing access. The session moves into practical guidance for engaging communities on new housing development and a public/private "collaboration" framework for making growth work for everyone.

What Lansing Can (and Can't) Do About West Michigan's Housing Crunch

A moderated conversation with a panel of Michigan state legislators digging into what state-level policy tools are actually available to address housing supply and affordability, in the same wood-paneled venue used for the Housing Equity session.

Rethinking Public Engagement in Grand Rapids Development

Defining public engagement: the scale and length of engagement vary with project size, from simple neighbor check-ins for a small business to multi-year processes for large mixed-use developments. Panelists note engagement sessions are trending more hostile, and stress that authentic communication and relationship-building are key to working through that. They also warn against treating engagement as just "checking a box" to get past the planning commission, it needs genuine collaboration and early involvement before designs are locked in.

Turning Underused Corridors Into West Michigan's Next Housing Opportunity

A breakout panel argues that commercial corridors, dying strip malls, and big-box stores with excess parking are some of the region's most underutilized redevelopment opportunities, since they already have infrastructure like water, sewer, and traffic counts in place. Panelists cite the North Kent Mall as a case study in community nostalgia versus the appetite for something different, and the conversation closes with audience questions on financing and closing with banks.

What It Actually Takes to Build Affordable

Bev Thiel of Habitat for Humanity of Kent County and Mick McGraw of Eastbrook Homes compare notes on building affordable housing from two very different vantage points: mission-driven nonprofit construction and production homebuilding. Moderated by Ryan Kilpatrick of Flywheel Community Development Services, the conversation digs into what actually moves the needle on affordability when subsidy dollars alone can't cover the gap.

What It Actually Takes to Respond to Homelessness in Kent County

Three frontline leaders from North Kent Connect, Family Promise of West Michigan, and Dégagé Ministries unpack how housing insecurity, food insecurity, and transportation gaps compound each other, with a special focus on why rural parts of the county face even greater risk than the urban core.

Equity Isn't the Same as Affordability, and West Michigan's Numbers Prove It

A data-heavy session making the case that "equity" and "affordability" are different problems requiring different tools, backed by striking local statistics on the racial homeownership gap in Kent County. It closes with a practical two-track framework, "Build the Supply, Open the Door, Do Both," for pairing new construction with better access to capital.

Making Grand Rapids Even More Grand: The Real Cost of Housing Design Choices

A keynote at Grand Valley State University uses a memorable "Where would you sit?" diner metaphor to talk about housing choice and community design, then walks through the real dollar tradeoffs developers face, using a facade-cost case study to show how "thoughtful" design choices ripple through a project's total cost. The talk closes with a fireside-chat-style Q&A.

See The Gallery

See all of our photos from the event!

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