The housing market is heating up and, as the weather breaks, more Detroiters may be on the hunt for a new home. The Sinai-Grace Guild Community Development Corporation is providing incentives for those looking to purchase or renovate a home on Detroit’s Northwest side.
Northwest Detroit communities like Harmony Village, Winship, College Park, Crary/St. Mary’s, Bethune and others could soon see new neighbors thanks to the Sinai-Grace Guild Community Development Corporation (SGGCDC). The organization is offering up to $10,000 for Detroiters looking to move to the area or make necessary upgrades to their existing home in the area. The Live Local Program invites employees who work at Sinai-Grace hospital, as well as other local anchor businesses to invest in their community through housing.
Lisa Campbell, executive director of the Sinai-Grace Guild Community Development Corporation, has a hands-on approach with the Live Local program.
“There’s benefits to having people live where they work in terms of how they invest and take care of their community. Then, of course, there’s the carbon footprint of bringing people closer to where they work,” said Campbell.
Though not the first neighborhood to offer incentives for moving to the area, the program, which was rolled out in the midst of the pandemic, is individualized in its approach. With Sinai-Grace Hospital as a major backer, other programs were taken into consideration in the establishment of Live Local.
“The idea initially started with the leadership at the hospital who thought ‘listen, there was success with Live Midtown, let’s see if we can pull that off in a neighborhood setting.’ The hospital is the largest employer in Northwest Detroit,” said Campbell.
Currently, the SGGCDC is seeing a majority of vacant and available homes in the areas of Hubbell-Lyndon, Harmony Village and the Hubbell-Puritan neighborhoods south of McNichols. The organization has also seen that just two percent of the more than 8,000 employees that frequent the area, live in the neighborhoods. Working to curb this statistic, SGGCDC hopes the incentive will encourage metro Detroiters to move to the neighborhoods in an effort to continue its strong legacy and create longevity. Live Local also helps to create staying power for employers and the ability to retain their employees.
“This program, in short, is really to help with the workforce turnover of some of these employees with that connection with the employers and investment. It helps with that carbon footprint in terms of commuting, reducing the commuting time and increasing the quality of life for the participants. [It will also] help to stabilize the residential neighborhoods by getting families into homes that are vacant and for sale and helping people achieve homeownership,” said Campbell.
For those who had already lived and worked in the community, the Live Local program introduced a way to celebrate current neighbors. Extending from the New Home Purchase Incentive, the Existing Home Renovation Incentive was added as a part of the Live Local incentive.
“One of the things we added to this program was an incentive for employees who currently live and work in the area and that was an exterior home improvement incentive. We wanted to add that piece that you’re already here in the community, you work and live here, you’re investing. Let’s help incentivize those neighbors as well,” said Campbell. “That part of the program, as expected, has gone very well.
In addition to the hospital, Northwest Detroit is home to Wayne County Community College. With its employee staff and students, the college provides another area where Live Local can be utilized. Since its inception, the program has had 83 applicants, which includes hospital and college staff as well as their students. The program also has six approved exterior home improvement projects and seven approved home purchase projects.
“We’ve been really fortunate to have such a solid response to this program, and this is a pilot. We rolled this out as a pilot in hopes that it could tell us if this program could sustain itself long-term like other programs,” said Campbell.
One of the qualifications for acceptance into the program is an applicant’s AMI or Area Median Income. Considered the poverty threshold for an area, AMI is determined by the household size and income.
“If an applicant is below 80 percent AMI, then they get the full $10,000 whether it be to purchase a home or to rehab their home. If they are above AMI, they are eligible for $5,000 and that’s for both programs,” said Campbell.
To fund the program, financial partnerships with the Ballmer Group, Enterprise Community Partners and DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital are essential.
The program is currently accepting new applicants.
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