31 Days of Giving: Housing
Dear Customers,
In this first week of December, we give to organizations working to reduce the tremendous shortage of housing in Northern Michigan.
Here is a quick look at the issue-- just in one county-- Leelanau.
Leelanau's median home price is $757,500, which means a household would need a combined income of approximately $197,160 to afford a home in our county. But the median income is only $71,232. Thus, many residents pay more than 50% of their income on housing. And a large portion of the workforce must make a long commute from outside Leelanau because they cannot afford to live in the county.
How does this lack of housing affect us? Our region lacks employees in every industry. Our region lacks an adequate amount of businesses to handle basic services most communities take for granted like putting in docks and running gas stations. Our community lacks a normal amount of families to fill our schools.
What is Cherry Republic's solution? It is simple. 1. Donate money to groups working on housing solutions. 2. Use Cherry Republic's own resources combined with a defined amount of donations to patiently create a pool of rental housing.
Here is where Cherry Republic will write donation checks to in the next week.
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Homestretch Non-profit Housing— $20,000
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Housing North-- $40,000
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Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency--Homeownership Center-- $20,000
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Peninsula Housing-- $20,000
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Cherry Republic Sugarloaf Project. — $50,000. To create four year round rentals for workers.
Currently, Cherry Republic owns homes that rent to two year round employees with families and 24 seasonal employees. We lose significant money a year on these rentals.
One home we own houses a political refuge family from Nicaragua that the St. Phillip Neri Catholic Church here in Empire introduced us to. At first the church asked if we could hire the husband to work for us, then, we hired Manuel's wife while they lived in the church's quarters for a short time, but now we even house them and their two children.
A second home of Cherry Republic's is rented to a single woman who is a valuable staff member in our headquarters. Her husband died after becoming a paraplegic in an accident that left her estate in debt. She is still recovering financially and unable to pay market value.
I could tell you more stories of need, and data shows that we are thousands of homes short in Leelanau County. Hopefully, over the years, we will be able to share more of more individual stories of Cherry Republic helping people build strong households in Leelanau.
Cherry Republic has never given so much money to housing. We are proud to have housing as a priority in our giving this December.
-Bob
