Construction is completed on the Vineyard View Apartments, an affordable housing complex on Marek Road in Suttons Bay off M-204. HomeStretch Housing, the nonprofit corporation behind the project, told the newspaper that they expect all eight units to be occupied between Christmas and New Years.
This will provide some much-needed housing to the less well-off residents of Leelanau County, the state’s wealthiest county according to a SmartAsset analysis covered by MLive earlier this year. People like Grace Soave, a single mother of four children, who leased one of the units on Monday.
“I’ve moved six times in the last four years – housing has always been temporary,” Soave said. “I’ve been trying to find something affordable for my kids and me. I filled out the application and got one of the units. I’m doing the final paperwork and signing the lease tonight.”
Ever since moving from Arizona to northern Michigan with her now-exhusband, Soave has struggled to find a permanent place to live. She’ll be moving out of an apartment near the former Sugar Loaf ski resort in Cleveland Township in the coming weeks. Previously, she’s had to commute to her jobs in Suttons Bay and Peshawbestown from Traverse City or even as far away as Kalkaska.
Soave said it’s difficult to find wellpaying jobs with schedules that accom- modate her responsibilities as a single parent, including dropping off and picking up her children from school. She used to own and operate a bridal shop in Suttons Bay for five years that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic due to lack of business. She currently earns money through cleaning and housekeeping.
Soave found out about the project through Mary Stanton, executive director of Leelanau Christian Neighbors. Stanton knew that she was having difficulties finding long-term affordable housing because Soave has been going to Christan Neighbors’ food pantries for two years.
After signing the lease, Soave will move into one of the eight townhouse-style units. Each unit occupies 960 square feet and is fully encapsulated, with no apartments above or below them. They have room for up to four occupants and have two floors, two bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms.
Stimson noted that the apartments are all electric, with “super-insulated” foam core exterior wall systems to retain heat during the winter. They are also handicap accessible per Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, with at least one of the units’ bathrooms and kitchen accommodating a wheelchair user with restricted mobility.
According to Stimson, two units will be rented out at $600800 per month, four units at about $900 per month, and two more units at approximately $1,050 per month. Rent payments cover all the utilities except electricity, including water and sewer, trash pickup and recycling, and landscaping and snowplowing.
Income guidelines issued by HomeStretch earlier this year state the apartments will only be available for a single person if they earn $37,080 or less per year, and a family of four if they earn $52,920 or less per year.
“We’re guaranteeing that the tenants are not going to spend more than 30% of their gross income on their rent,” Stimson said. “We’re setting these tenants and these residences up for success. We want them to succeed, we want them to thrive, and (we want them to) eventually move up and out of here if that’s what they desire.”
HomeStretch was able to complete this project through the donation of the two-and-a-halfacre parcel by the Leelanau County Land Bank and a grant from Huntington Bank that will “buy down” occupants’ rent to make it more affordable to them. Some of the residents are getting further support, such as Soave, who will have another portion of her rent paid by Tip of the Mitt Housing.
Stimson said that the success of the Vineyard View Apartments will serve as a “springboard” for other HomeStretch projects in Leelanau County, including an additional 12-unit development close to Vineyard View Apartments at a soon-to-beannounced location.
