About

About Housing Now

Housing Now is a community-driven, public-private initiative dedicated to expanding housing opportunities that support a strong workforce and vibrant communities across Marquette County. At its core, Housing Now is about alignment—bringing the right people to the table, focusing energy where it matters most, and helping move housing solutions forward.

Housing challenges are complex. No single organization, developer, or local government can solve them alone. Housing Now exists to ensure that public, private, and nonprofit partners are working together rather than in silos—sharing data, coordinating efforts, reducing barriers, and accelerating progress.

How It Started

In 2023, the Board of Directors of the Lake Superior Community Partnership (LSCP) formally recognized housing availability as a foundational economic development issue. Workforce retention, talent attraction, employer growth, and overall community wellbeing are all directly tied to the availability and diversity of housing options.

That recognition led to the adoption of LSCP’s first housing strategic framework and a focused year of foundational work. Throughout 2024, partners collaborated to:

Complete and share a countywide Target Market Analysis
Expand community education and conversation around housing needs
Develop new tools and resources for emerging and small-scale developers
Build shared data and a common understanding of local challenges

As the work matured, it became clear that a broader, more balanced structure was needed—one that elevated private and nonprofit engagement alongside public sector leadership.

The Formation of Housing Now

In late 2024, the effort formally transitioned into Housing Now, a new private-public initiative hosted by the Lake Superior Community Partnership Foundation.

Housing Now replaced the former Intergovernmental Housing Task Force and expanded the coalition of voices shaping housing solutions in Marquette County. By bringing employers, lenders, developers, nonprofit leaders, and local governments into a single, structured initiative, Housing Now strengthened both capacity and coordination.

Under this structure:

The LSCP Foundation provides fiscal sponsorship and fiduciary oversight.
The Foundation manages grant and contribution funds, including the Housing Acceleration Fund.
The LSCP team provides day-to-day staffing support, communications, reporting, and administrative coordination.

This structure ensures both accountability and flexibility—allowing Housing Now to respond quickly to opportunities while maintaining strong governance and financial stewardship.

The Power of Collaboration

Housing Now is guided by a 31-member Leadership Council representing:

Local governments
Major employers
Financial institutions and lenders
Builders, developers, and real estate professionals
Nonprofit and community partners
Education, workforce, and regional planning stakeholders

This cross-sector composition is intentional. Housing development sits at the intersection of policy, capital, workforce, infrastructure, and community priorities. By bringing these perspectives together in one room, Housing Now fosters informed decision-making and coordinated action.

The Leadership Council sets priorities, reviews progress quarterly, identifies emerging challenges, and supports implementation through standing committees focused on local government support, education, developer support, and advocacy.

Housing Now does not build housing directly. Instead, it strengthens the system that makes housing possible.

Our Role in the Housing Ecosystem

Housing Now operates in several complementary roles:

Coordinator – Aligning partners and avoiding duplication of effort
Facilitator – Convening stakeholders and leading solution-focused discussions
Accelerator – Helping projects navigate regulatory, financial, or informational barriers
Translator – Making complex policy, zoning, and market data understandable
Storyteller – Communicating progress to build trust and momentum

This systems-level approach enables developers, local governments, lenders, and nonprofits to deliver housing more effectively and collaboratively.

Continued Evolution

Housing Now has evolved every year since its inception—and that evolution is intentional.

The initiative has expanded education and outreach, launched new developer-support tools, strengthened relationships with state and regional partners, convened external expertise, and supported projects through dedicated staff capacity. Along the way, Housing Now was recognized as Coalition of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Michigan in 2025—an acknowledgment of the strength of its collaborative model.

In 2026 and beyond, Housing Now continues to refine its structure, streamline its focus areas, and deepen committee engagement to reflect how housing work actually happens: through coordination across policy, capital, workforce, education, and project support.

Housing Now is not a static program. It is an evolving initiative designed to remain responsive to changing conditions, emerging opportunities, and community input.

A Long-Term Commitment

Housing is foundational to economic growth and community vitality. By convening partners, building shared understanding, and supporting action across sectors, Housing Now ensures that Marquette County remains proactive rather than reactive in addressing housing challenges.

Through collaboration, strong governance, and continued adaptation, Housing Now will keep strengthening the local housing ecosystem—so that employers can grow, families can thrive, and communities across the county remain vibrant for generations to come.