MI

SAULT STE. MARIE — Homeowners across the Upper Peninsula will have a chance to get a helping hand with their home repairs through newly available state funding.

The MI-HOPE grant, which began as a state-sponsored COVID-19 relief fund, recently awarded dozens of grants to various local government agencies and nonprofits across the state. Around $1 million in funding has been awarded to the Upper Peninsula alone to help homeowners repair and upgrade their living situations.

Officials said housing and homeownership are ongoing issues in the Upper Peninsula, and homeowners need more help than ever.

The MI-HOPE grant was made specifically to help Michiganders in rural areas, with whatever they need to keep energy costs down in both winter and summer.

For some people, a lack of weatherization can lead to families becoming homeless. Lack of outdoor insulation, proper heating or roofing can lead to a home being declared unsafe, and families are forced to move out.

"I know of three instances in the past year and a half where local people lost their homes because they got in such disrepair and they had no finances to repair it that they had to move out," said Eric Gilbert with the Salvation Army in Sault Ste. Marie.

Through this program, any U.P. homeowner can have repairs done to their storm and exterior doors, windows, insulation, furnaces, boilers, cooling systems, water heaters and other upgrades.

The three Upper Peninsula organizations that received grants are the Baraga-Houghton-Keweenaw Community Action Agency, Copper Country Habitat for Humanity and Sault Ste. Marie Salvation Army. All owners of single family-sized houses in the U.P. will fall under the area of one of these organizations.

Subscribe:Get unlimited access to our content

The organizations are in charge of connecting people in need to the grant. They are also in charge of determining which households do or do not qualify for the grant, and to what extent.

An evaluator will go to the location of every home to determine what kinds of upgrades they will need, taking into account that specific person's circumstances. There is a maximum of $25,000 available per household.

The MI-HOPE grant, which is run through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), originated in 2022 as a way to help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the program has helped rural homeowners across the state with various upgrades.

In the past year, the program has helped with repairs in over 175 households.

In order to qualify for the repairs, owners must show that they were damaged in some way by the pandemic, either in loss of income or increase of living costs since March 2021. Households must also reach a lower income cap to qualify, around 300 percent of the poverty level. Single person houses can have a maximum income of around $30,000, and a family of four is capped at around $79,000 a year.

To take advantage of the grant, homeowners must contact the organization in their county. The Salvation Army received $500,000 in funds, which will be split evenly between the Sault Ste. Marie location and a Lower Peninsula location. The Baraga-Houghton-Keweenaw Community Action Agency received $250,000 and Copper Country Habitat for Humanity received $500,000.

More information about MSHDA and MI-HOPE can be found on the MSHDA website.

— Contact Brendan Wiesner: [email protected]