CADILLAC — Like many Northern Michigan communities, the housing shortage continues in Wexford County and housing experts are warning it’s only getting worse.
The Cadillac Housing Commission said finding a place to call home is a struggle across the board, with some groups feeling the impact worse than others.
Executive director Carrie VanderMolen said they work primarily with low-income families and seniors, but they are seeing a lack of housing across the board.
“There just isn’t enough. Right now, we are losing families, and we are losing people that want to live in the area because they can’t find a place to live. We need more housing for low income working families, all the way up to people coming to the area, our teachers are blue collar workers. And it’s getting worse. Housing prices have gone up so much as have the cost of land and the cost to build. It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better,” said VanderMolen.
She said it especially impacts some of our most vulnerable citizens, including seniors, the disabled, and low-income housing.
VanderMolen said the waitlists for low-income public housing at Kirtland Terrace and Cornerstone Apartments have more than 300 people on them.
“We didn’t have any move outs for about six or seven months. We’re telling some people there’s a 5 to 7 year waiting list, which is really unfortunate and it’s really hard for some of these families to take that are literally living in their car,” said VanderMolen.
She said they haven’t issued a voucher through their Housing Choice Voucher program in more than a year.
The federal government helps low income, seniors, veterans, and disabled people afford private housing through the program
“We haven’t issued a housing choice voucher since March of 2024 because we haven’t had any money to be able to utilize putting another family under our program. We’re not getting reimbursed enough money from HUD,” said VanderMolen.
She said it’s frustrating because there’s so much need right now, receiving 10 to 20 calls a day.
“It’s really hard to give them a timeline. These are people literally that don’t have anywhere to live or are being evicted from their living. Now. They need a place to go and they want answers. And we can’t give it to them,” said VanderMolen.
Georgie Bump, the executive director for the Wexford County Council on Aging said they try to connect seniors with resources and advocate for more housing.
“We do our best to make sure that we can get them back on their feet and have them get the resources that they need. So, it might not be that we’re finding them housing, but maybe we can find some temporary solutions,” said Bump.
Vandermolen said a lack of housing impacts everybody because it affects the economy but there are a lot of conversations being had in the community to find solutions.