UpNorthLive Hosts a Virtual Town Hall on December 11th Discussing STRs and Affordable Housing; NAR Advocacy Mission in 2025; Fair Housing Resolutions on the January 2nd County Agendas in Antrim and Wexford
Discussion of Short-Term Rentals and their potential effects on housing availability and affordability continues with a recent Virtual Town Hall hosted by UpNorthLive 7&4 News. The National Association of REALTORS® has declared an “all-hands, all-front” advocacy effort to provide for rent or buy housing across our nation, learn more about these objectives in 2025. Take a look at Fair Housing Resolutions in Antrim and Wexford Counties.
1. UpNorthLive Hosts Virtual Town Hall on December 11th Discussing STRs and Affordable Housing
On December 11th, UpNorthLive 7&4 News hosted a Virtual Town Hall with a panel that included Executive Director for Housing North Yarrow Brown, Traverse City Planning Director Shawn Winter, and Superintendent for the City of Frankfort Josh Mills to discuss the balance between Short-Term Rentals (STRs) and the need for more housing in Northwest Michigan. Some highlights from this Virtual Town Hall include:
- UpNorthLive’s November 25th story on Northern Michigan communities trying to balance STRs with year-round housing needs (minute 2:05 to minute 6:28)
- Responses from panelists on whether STRs have an impact on communities and affordable housing (minute 15:22 to minute 17:50 and minute 21:05 to minute 22:42)
- Shawn speaks to the economic impacts of tourism in our region and local regulation of STRs (minute 31:58 to minute 34:10)
- Panelists present what they believe to be potential solutions to achieving a balance between STRs and long-term housing options (minute 34:30 to minute 47:18)
- Panelists expressing concern about the statewide prohibition on STR regulations and support for locally tailored STR regulations (minute 52:57 to minute 58:40)
- Shawn presents the idea that STRs built can be future long-term housing and that this shift may be occurring in Traverse City (minute 58:45 to minute 61:05)
You can view the UpNorthLive 7&4 Virtual Town Hall on their website or on YouTube.
2. NAR Advocacy Mission in 2025
If you have not seen it already, the National Association of REALTORS®(NAR) has been promoting an “all-hands, all-front advocacy posture in the fight to provide for rent or buy housing across our nation which is in a record short supply and has reached a crisis point. Some talking points about NAR’s Advocacy Mission to make housing more affordable, available, and accessible:
- 18% of the United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is contributed by the real estate sector and each home sale generates two jobs
- Homebuyers today face a market with an estimated 4.7 million unit shortage, and those looking to rent face a 600,000 unit shortage
- Overly restrictive zoning and burdensome permitting regulations prevent lower-cost housing construction
- NAR is leading the national charge to update America’s tax law to promote homeownership, build stable communities and boost economic growth; through legislation that would yield 500,000 homes built or substantially rehabilitated, nearly 800,000 jobs, almost $30 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues and fees in just ten years
You can find these talking points and additional background information on the NAR website at https://www.nar.realtor/AdvocacyMission.
3. Fair Housing Resolutions on the January 2nd County Agendas in Antrim and Wexford
On Thursday, January 2nd both the Antrim County Board of Commissioners (page 25 of Antrim County agenda packet) and the Wexford County Board of Commissioners (pages 22 and 23 of the Wexford County agenda packet) considered Fair Housing Resolutions. As of this writing, it is not known if these resolutions were passed, however, each resolution was written in a way that appears to assume their likely passage. Take a look a look at each one-page resolution (Antrim County page 25 and Wexford County pages 22 and 23) to familiarize yourself with the fair housing contact person and policies in Antrim and Wexford Counties.