Benson: “My economic vision for Michigan is not just rooted in creating more well-paying jobs, but in building places [and] communities where people want to live, choose to live and can build a life”

Yesterday, Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson toured new affordable housing facilities in Lansing and shared her plan to drive down the cost of housing. During her visit at the Lansing Housing Commission, Benson toured two of their new buildings – the 220 Riverview Apartments and the Grand Vista Place Apartments.

Earlier this month, Jocelyn unveiled her plan to lower the cost of housing and build more homes across Michigan. She is the only candidate for governor with a plan to lower the cost of housing and rapidly expand housing supply across the state to put homeownership back on the table for Michigan residents. 

In case you missed it… 

Michigan Advance: Benson pushes for state, federal housing support on tour of Lansing affordable housing construction

[Katherine Dailey, 03/18/2026]

Michigan secretary of state and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson toured construction for a set of new affordable housing apartments being built in downtown Lansing by the Lansing Housing Commission, the public housing authority for the city that provides both rental housing units and voucher-based rental assistance to families in the greater Lansing area. 

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[Doug Fleming, the executive director of the Lansing Housing Commission] emphasized to her, Benson said after, “how critical state and federal support is for enabling communities like this to grow.”

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Benson also applauded the inclusion of wraparound services — including mental health support, job counseling and food access — in the Lansing Housing Commission’s plan for the new Lansing apartments. 

“We know we do need to increase the supply of attainable housing,” she said. “This is a drop in the bucket, but a great, high quality drop in the bucket for that housing.”

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One proposal that Benson discussed with Fleming […] was having state agencies provide data that the state already has to assist with filing the paperwork that is required in order to be eligible for apartments like these.

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The [Trump] administration had previously also put forward proposals that would impose a two-year limit on HUD’s State Rental Assistance Block Grant, which the AP had reported would result in 1.4 million people losing rental subsidies and public housing vouchers, further exacerbating the housing crisis.

Gongwer: Benson tours high-demand affordable housing developments nearing completion in Lansing: ‘We need this all around the state’

[Lily Guiney, 03/18/2026] 

Two Lansing housing developments set to be completed in the coming weeks with residents moved in by summertime are a model for what affordable housing projects should look like across the state, Jocelyn Benson said after touring the sites Tuesday afternoon.

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“It was quite an eye opener, not just to see the real quality and care that's going into building these units, but also how many people want to be in them,” Benson said after touring the construction site and learning about the demand. “I mean, (after) seven days, there was already a wait list of 2,500 people for 100 units, which is unreal, and then they had to go through a lottery to (narrow it down) to 600, and what that just really underscores is that we need to do stuff like this all around the state.”

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Benson said she hopes these developments and others like them around the state will breathe life back into neighborhoods and downtowns that have struggled to attract and retain businesses or cultivate a local entertainment scene.

“My economic vision for Michigan is not just rooted in creating more well-paying jobs, but in building places communities where people want to live, choose to live and can build a life. And this is a great example,” she said of the Lansing developments. “When you have a housing development like this go into Lansing, then you have mixed-use opportunities where you're also creating spaces for small businesses to (be) housed or for restaurants to grow, and then you're also supporting workplaces that can be located in these same areas where people can walk to work, which is a great incentive.”

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