Looking up the coast for clues to solve the housing riddle

By Ross Boissoneau

Sun contributor

The region’s need for housing has been well documented. That’s particularly true for homes priced for sale between $150,000 and $300,000, as well as long-term rentals commensurate with that price. In Leelanau County, with a median price of $640,000 and an average price of $937,506, the challenge is acute.

The reasons are many, from the influx during and after COVID to the area’s decades-long appeal as a vacation haven, but when demand outstrips supply, prices increase. For several years, Realtors have bemoaned the low number of homes for sale. The result: Michigan’s Senate Fiscal Agency has shown Leelanau County to be the most unaffordable county in the state for housing for the past decade and a half.

Perhaps part of the answer lies in looking north. Emmet County’s housing market mirrors that of Leelanau in many ways. It is a popular resort and vacation area with a number of high-end second and vacation homes. Petoskey’s location on Lake Michigan with nearby attractions including golf, shopping, restaurants and recreation certainly sounds familiar. And that average sale price in Leelanau County of $937,506? Petoskey was named to the Realtor.com March 2026 Pure Luxury List, with more than half its property listings priced at $1 million or more.

Such prices are far above a price point for those who work in retail, hospitality, law enforcement, education or any of the myriad other roles that make up the core of a community. That’s as true in Leelanau as it is in Petoskey. “Leelanau and Emmet have a lot in common,” says Nikki DeVitt, executive director of the Petoskey Area Chamber of Commerce.

In the last three years, Emmet has added nearly 500 housing units, thanks to a number of different efforts. So just copy what has been done there, right, and Leelanau’s problem has been solved, just as Emmet County’s has been. Right?

Not so fast. DeVitt says the problem there is far from solved, as Emmet remains 3,000 units short of its need. “We are not addressing the future. We are trying to catch up,” explains DeVitt.

So, too, is Leelanau. In trying to get arms around the problem, the Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation undertook a survey of county businesses, which concluded the number one barrier to doing business is the lack of workforce housing. Now the Leelanau County Housing Collaborative, an arm of the LPEF, is asking workers, employers, and other community members to take part in the Leelanau County Attainable Housing Survey. The survey is designed to gather public input on housing needs and community priorities to help inform future housing solutions across the county.

The survey takes about five minutes to fill out. Go to LeelanauHousingCollaborative.org.

Of course, as Emmet County showed, it will take more than surveys to combat the problem. In fact, it will take many things, because as DeVitt says, “Housing is not one thing.” It includes not only building new homes, but finding financial resources, modifying zoning, constructing infrastructure such as roads, sewers, water, and broadband. “There are land-use decisions. In rural northwest Michigan we have to look at zoning.”

Peter Fisher agrees. The longtime Leelanau County resident is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Schmidt in Glen Arbor. He says many zoning ordinances were written in the ’60s and ’70s, and desperately need to be revised. That won’t be easy, and the problem is exacerbated by the fact the county has more than a dozen governmental units, each with their own zoning rules, some mandating a five-acre minimum for residential construction, others upping that to ten.

“We can’t get more affordable housing unless we allow greater zoning density,” says Fisher. “It comes down to a certain amount of political will.

“I’m no smarter than Yarrow Brown or Larry Mawby,” he continues, referencing the former head of Housing North and the founder of Peninsula Housing, a non-profit community land trust committed to providing affordable housing in Leelanau County. But as someone on the front lines of buying and selling homes, he has an eagle-eye view of the challenges. He knows that working exclusively with high-end homes doesn’t serve his clients looking for their first home or those looking to move to the area after securing a job here.

He’s not the only one. Jamie Jewell, a Realtor with Schaub Team Premier Real Estate in Suttons Bay and a member of the Board of Director at Leelanau Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, is the administrative coordinator at Leelanau Peninsula Economic Foundation. She also points to zoning as a key consideration in tackling the challenge. “Zoning is a problem. There is no blanket ordinance that you can or can’t do this in a certain area,” she says.

She says previous surveys have shown firefighters driving as much as 65 miles each way to work. Another troubling development is the number of teachers expected to retire within the next few years. “How can we fill (those roles) when young people can’t afford to live here?” she asks.

Among those working on solutions is the Sleeping Bear Gateways Council. The non-profit volunteer-driven organization raises private funds to purchase land suitable for building attainable workforce housing. Once acquired, the land is placed into a Community Land Trust (CLT) for 99 years, ensuring long-term affordability. By removing the land cost from the equation, homes become more attainable.

The challenge is finding and purchasing such land. Jon Lanphier, the incoming president of the board of directors, says the challenge is exacerbated by misinterpretation of the need for attainable housing as a need for indigent housing – which is also a need, but not what the Gateways Council is attempting to address. “This is attainable housing. If a family can’t afford to live in a community, they find someplace else,” he says. As a result, local schools lose potential students, stores lose potential customers, and the community suffers.

Lanphier cites zoning as an area that must be addressed as well. Part of the council’s approach includes multi-family housing. “Multi-family housing builds a community,” he says.

Emmet’s approach was multifaceted. It included a 60-unit apartment complex in the city of Petoskey developed by a local housing non-profit; a private housing development of manufactured homes developed by an affiliate of Manthei Construction and Manthei Veneer on a former quarry owned by Manthei; a mixed-use development led by the Economic Development Arm of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians on tribal land; and The Meadowlands, a project by Northwest Michigan Habitat For Humanity, located just south of Alanson.

So perhaps the biggest lessons that can be taken from Petoskey’s work are the fact there is no one solution – it will take a concerted effort from all manner of public, private and non-profit institutions to address the situation. Addressing zoning and local concerns, as well as securing financing, are all part of the package.

One more sobering fact: As DeVitt pointed out, the challenge will be ongoing. Catching up will take years, and even if there is a time when the supply of housing catches up with the need, that need will only continue to grow. There won’t be a time when people can stop and say “It’s solved.” As long as people want to work, live and/or vacation in Leelanau County, it will be a battle to meet those housing needs.