A Housing Miracle in Lowell

At first glance, a new housing development on Lowell’s Main Street looks a lot like many other homes being built across West Michigan. Yet, to Wendie Preiss, the siding and windows are so much more than building materials. 

She sees them as an answer to prayers and a new hope for her community. When construction broke ground just before Memorial Day, her eyes filled with tears of joy.

“It was a very emotional day for me,” said Preiss, executive director at Flat River Outreach Ministries (FROM). “It just felt like we were standing in a miracle. It makes me want to cry my eyes out.”

The Need for Affordable Housing

A byproduct of West Michigan’s ongoing economic boom is that there’s just not enough housing for everyone who wants to live here. As a result, it can be difficult to afford a home, even for people with steady jobs and solid income. For people with fewer financial resources, finding stable housing can be a real challenge.

In fact, affordable housing is a persistent need in Lowell and many other communities.

“All of the market-rent levels are increasing, and our neighbors in need have nowhere else to go,” Preiss said.

FROM started as a food pantry in the late 1990s and later added a thrift store and transportation services. A decade ago, they purchased an existing building at 504 E. Main St. With 10 efficiency and single-bedroom apartments and subsidized rent for people earning 80% or less of the area median income, that building has been a big piece of the affordable housing puzzle in Lowell.

But those apartments don’t have room for families. So, Preiss and her colleagues, a few years ago, began exploring the idea of building affordable homes with room for up to four people. 

For everything FROM has learned about serving the Lowell community, however, the ministry has no experience in housing development. That’s where Eastbrook Homes came into the picture.

Prepared to Help

Around the time FROM reached out to Eastbrook about construction, Mick McGraw had been recovering from surgery and enduring some sleepless nights. To pass the time, the Eastbrook CEO sketched out plans for affordable housing, creating an uber-efficient concept that includes four 20-by-20 units in a 40-by-40 building with a simple roof line and cost-effective infrastructure such as plumbing, heating and cooling.

FROM and Eastbrook worked from that general design and put together plans for a $3.3 million project in Lowell with 17 homes and a common laundry area in three buildings that can house up to 40 people.

“I came up with this idea of a little fourplex and they said they’ve got the perfect spot for that,” McGraw said. “It was like a little Rubick’s cube. We played around with it and did a layout for what we’re building in Lowell. I’ll be eager to see them in the flesh.”

While the family housing is groundbreaking in Lowell, it’s not the first affordable housing project for Eastbrook. The homebuilder has collaborated with ICCF Community Homes, Community Rebuilders, Mel Trotter Ministries, Family Promise of West Michigan and other nonprofits. 

Eastbrook’s homebuilding expertise, combined with the ability of a nonprofit to solicit donations and pursue public grant funds, has proven to be a successful path for making more affordable housing.

“We have skills in the building community,” McGraw said. “We’re prepared to help solve this problem. This housing in Lowell will be particularly rewarding to me just because we’re reaching into a community that needs housing that I can’t do on my own. The credit goes to FROM. We’re just a part of it.”

Building Hope for the Future

On one level, what’s being built in Lowell are houses with four walls, a roof and a cute porch leading up to the front door. Yet, they’re also much more than just places to live. 

That’s what brought Preiss to tears at the May 22 groundbreaking. Each shovel of dirt symbolized hope for families to flourish both now and into the future.

After all, when someone is housed as a child, they’re more likely to be housed as an adult. Housing also correlates to better performance in school and has a positive effect on mental health, which in turn supports holding a steady job. A safe place to call home even results in better health and nutrition.

“Stable housing is such a foundation to so many things,” Preiss said. “And it’s generational. This will completely change the trajectory for these families.

“Miracles are real, and there’s one happening in Lowell.”