A Leelanau County-based nonprofit has secured a $50,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), with the money to be put toward affordable housing efforts in the county.

Late last week, MDARD announced a series of 21 grants “to advance housing, infrastructure, and economic development in rural Michigan communities.” The grants total more than $1 million and are all part of MDARD’s Rural Readiness Grant Program, which is intended specifically “to support pre-development activities to expedite housing production, infrastructure improvements, and bolster rural economies.”

One of the 21 recipients is Peninsula Housing, the Leelanau-based Community Land Trust (CLT) founded by Larry Mawby (pictured). That organization will receive $50,000 in grant funds “to create a community-supported development plan for affordable housing solutions” in Leelanau County.

Speaking to the Leelanau Ticker last month, Mawby said the then-pending grant would enable Peninsula Housing “to work with a planning development firm, and to engage the community – including the residents and the elected and appointed officials in both the Village of Suttons Bay and Suttons Bay Township – to get feedback on what people think we should do” with a 10-acre parcel the organization owns near the Village of Suttons Bay. Mawby said the parcel had the potential to be developed into as many as 80 housing units.

A quick refresher: CLTs are nonprofit organizations that hold land in trust for the benefit of the communities they serve. Per the Peninsula Housing website, CLTs work to make housing more affordable in perpetuity by separating ownership of land homes. “CLTs permanently own the land on which homes and other structures or facilities are built, while individuals own the home...on the land pursuant to a long-term renewable ground lease.” This approach helps CLTs offer homes for lower prices than what the market typically dictates. It also enables them to set certain rules by which owners or renters must abide. For instance, the homeowner is not allowed to use their home as a short-term rental, and must list the house at a restricted price if/when they decide to sell.

Peninsula Housing has so far acquired numerous properties in Leelanau County for the purposes of offering more affordable housing to county residents. Those properties include a home available for purchase in Suttons Bay and a duplex in Lake Leelanau currently occupied by a pair of renters.

In winning the MDARD grant, Peninsula Housing rose to the top of a heap of more than 90 grant requests that totaled more than $4.3 million in asks. Per MDARD, “Nearly a third of total requests focused on projects aiming at expediting housing production in rural communities – a top rural priority.”