Our Platform
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Students who walk, bike, or use public transportation should not be forced to pay higher rents due to excessive parking mandates. These mandates increase development costs and consume land that could otherwise provide housing. SHA supports allowing housing providers to respond to actual parking demand, particularly near campuses and transit routes.
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Requiring every home to occupy an unnecessarily large parcel limits the number of homes that can be built near campus and increases the amount of land each resident must pay for. SHA supports smaller minimum lot sizes so college communities can use limited land efficiently, create more attainable homes and give students more opportunities to live near their classes, jobs and communities.
Accessory dwelling units—including converted garages, basements, attics and small backyard homes—can provide lower-cost housing for individual students, couples, young professionals. They also provide income to homeowners and allow older residents to remain in their communities. SHA supports legalizing ADUs and removing unnecessary setback requirements that prevent their construction. These homes can benefit both students and longtime residents of college communities.
Both communities and students benefit when more homes are located within walking, biking or transit distance of campus. Apartments, duplexes, townhouses and other denser forms of housing allow more people to share the cost of expensive land while supporting public transportation and nearby businesses. SHA supports permitting greater housing density in high-demand areas, particularly near universities, places of employment and transit corridors.
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Requiring multiple stairways in modest apartment buildings can consume space that could otherwise be used for additional homes. Many places outside the United States safely permit single-stair apartment buildings under carefully designed height, fire-safety and construction standards. SHA supports updating Michigan’s building codes to permit safe single-stair housing, creating more flexible layouts and making smaller apartment buildings easier to construct on limited sites near campus.
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Students should have a meaningful voice in shaping the long-term future of their communities. However, project-by-project public hearings often give disproportionate power to established property owners while students, renters and future residents remain underrepresented. SHA supports upfront and clear development rules, predictable approval timelines and by-right approval for projects that already comply with those rules—especially infill development, adaptive reuse and housing near transit.