Posts

Sleeping Bear Gateways Council seeks hosts for seasonal employee housing exchange

,

For college students and others seeking summer employment in Benzie and Leelanau counties, getting a job is often the easy part. The hard part comes in finding a place to live. “It’s a significant barrier to anyone who’s not local,” said Isabella Beshouri, a University of Michigan student who spent a month in 2021 finding a summer rental after being hired as an intern at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. That barrier is being lowered in 2022 and beyond through an innovative “seasonal employee housing exchange” sponsored by the Sleeping Bear Gateways Council (SBGC) and funded through grants from local foundations and the federal government.

Read more
/by

Tiny homes offer small solutions to a large housing problem

As the housing market in northern Michigan continues to grow more competitive, some young entrepreneurs are finding creative solutions to their housing problems. Emily Grof is the architectural associate at the firm Design Smiths in Traverse City. She is one such creative problem solver who, with the help of Facebook Marketplace and Traverse City-based tiny-home builder Levi Meeuwenberg, has come up with a small solution for herself to the looming question of where to live.

Read more
/by

April Fools’ Day: Leelanau County solves workforce housing crisis

This coming July, Shipwreck Café owner Steve Nowicki won’t have to log 200-hour weeks together with his staff of four, throwing together sandwiches and slinging pizzas as fast as a hummingbird for thousands of hungry tourists headed for packed beaches in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. That’s because Leelanau County is launching an innovative new program that puts waiters, clerks, and housekeepers in every extra bed in every house.

Read more
/by

Leelanau District 4 Commissioner Ty Wessel addresses key issues facing County

Today we’re featuring Leelanau County Commissioner, Democrat Ty Wessell (District 4, Northport), who is running unopposed this election. We asked Wessel the following six questions.

Read more
/by

Housing shortage “epidemic” impacts our workforce

If you have been to the Empire Village Inn in the last two years, you have likely noticed some changes. The menu has been revamped, the beer menu has expanded, and the bar has been rebuilt, all thanks to the newest general manager, Riley Scott, who was hired by owner Frank Lerchen in the fall of 2017. Scott had been working in the restaurant industry in Grand Rapids, and moved north when offered a management position to help make some changes to the establishment.

Read more
/by

A little house in Empire: one couple’s small housing solution

The topic of housing in Leelanau County––and the lack of affordable housing––is one that seems to come up often for those who live here. Among my peers––entrepreneurs and workers in their late-20s to early-30s––housing discussions are often filled with a bit of discouragement.

Read more
/by

Cedar’s affordable housing solution?

It’s no secret that finding practical housing in Leelanau County for year-round residents is a difficult feat. While summer retreats and expensive waterfront properties are abundant, family homes at an affordable price are not easy to find. Enter Cedar Cove Estates, a planned subdivision created with the local in mind.

Read more
/by