Partnership Highlights for March 2026

Posted by Lake Superior Community Partnership on March 26, 2026

Partnering with Local Governments to Create Prosperous Communities

The LSCP’s 2024 – 2026 strategic plan has a specific focus area designed to help support the creation of vibrant communities. That area highlights our commitment to working not just as a private-sector entity, but also in close partnership with our public-sector colleagues to create the types of environments that allow businesses to thrive. While some common trends like reasonable taxes and predictable development processes are cornerstones of a business-friendly environment, our larger focus on retaining and attracting the talent necessary for our businesses to succeed is also a part of that equation.

While we’ve placed significant resources into expanding our partnerships with local governments on matters like grant opportunities, regular updates, and specific events around placemaking – the concept that you create places people are proud of and that drives additional investment and economic prosperity – we’re excited to be adding another resource to the mix: the Michigan Municipal League’s Local Economies Initiative. This initiative helps local governments integrate a set of best practices around supporting microbusinesses. Local governments that participate in the program receive an in-person visit, deep research into the existing ecosystem supporting microbusinesses, and a final report with recommendations to enhance opportunity in the community. Thanks to funding from the Central Upper Peninsula Small Business Support Hub, we’re able to provide four of these to the region, including one right here in Marquette County, the City of Ishpeming.

You can learn more about the program below.

[Learn More: Local Economies Initiative]

We’re the first region outside the metro Detroit area to have access to this program thanks to this partnership, and we’re excited about what it will bring. We’ll keep you updated as visits occur and reports/recommendations are released in the coming months. If you’re a local government official and missed the chance to apply this time, please still reach out so we can chat about how the LSCP team can partner to implement some of these best practices even without the formal report.

 

Advocacy Update: Governor’s State of the State Address Touches on Housing, Healthcare | Lansing Staying Busy with New Bills

On February 25, Governor Whitmer delivered her final State of the State address. As we discussed in our last Partnership Highlights, this address often sets the stage for major legislative focus areas over the coming year. During the evening, Governor Whitmer focused on three main topics: literacy, housing, and healthcare. Under housing, she proposed a new state-level affordable housing tax credit that would amplify the impact of the federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), streamlined permitting and zoning rules, and less burdensome construction codes. These are all things our housing initiative has discussed in the past. On healthcare, she focused on calling for Congress to extend the ACA subsidies, reducing medical debt, and protecting Medicaid. On literacy, she called for expanded Pre-K for All and more funding for support services. You can read a recap of the speech here and see the full speech here. Additionally, there has been significant legislative activity in Lansing over the past two weeks. While most movement has been within a particular chamber, meaning bills still aren’t being passed by both chambers, we’re encouraged to see an active committee hearing schedule. Some bills that are rising to the top of our monitoring list include:   ·         HB 4007 and 4283, which clarify the allowable use of our U.P. RICE Natural Gas generators in the context of the 2023 energy laws. Without these bills, U.P. businesses and residents face steep increases in energy costs in the coming years. ·         A bill to keep Michigan in the Interstate Licensure Compact for Physicians (HB 5545 or SB 303), which must be passed soon to avoid beginning the withdrawal of Michigan from the compact. Why do we care? Compact agreements like this create a larger pool of physicians for our rural healthcare systems to recruit from. ·         SB 278 would expand the allowable uses of funds from the Housing and Community Development Fund (HCDF) to include projects affordable to households earning 120% of the area’s median income. This is similar to a bill that nearly passed in 2024. ·         SB 733 would establish a new category of childcare facility licensing for existing buildings, such as churches, that already meet safety standards.

 

The above is just an example of what is growing to be a very long list of legislation we’re tracking related to economic development and our 2026 Critical Issues (Housing, Childcare, Air Service, Healthcare, and Regulatory Reform). We’re also watching active discussions around Speaker Hall’s proposal to eliminate state property taxes and replace most of that revenue by expanding the sales tax to ‘luxury’ items. There is no official bill draft yet to truly understand the details, but we do expect property tax changes to be a common theme this spring in Lansing. On the federal front, we continue to track legislation primarily around housing, including the Housing for the 21st Century Act and Senator Slotkin’s National Housing Emergency Act.

 

Housing Development: The Power of Local

Many of you are familiar with the work of Housing Now, the private-public housing initiative hosted by the LSCP Foundation. With its seven focus areas, we’re working to tackle the various factors that drive the high cost of housing development, thereby addressing the challenge most commonly summed up as “the math doesn’t math.” These past two weeks have seen significant progress toward implementing that strategy.

On March 3, we held the 10th Emerging Developers Meet Up. These are invite-only gatherings where local small- and medium-scale developers can connect to discuss local housing projects. Over the course of these gatherings, we’ve seen new partnerships, expanded resources, new technical assistance needs, and more. We intentionally keep the events small enough for real conversations to happen that lead to real results. While we welcome outside developers to help us meet our housing goals, we know it’s our local developers who understand our market best, and their success keeps dollars local for more projects.

Housing Now also held its first local outreach event by attending the U.P. Home Builders Show this past weekend. We had great conversations with builders, residents, officials, suppliers, and more. At the event, attendees could sign up to be a Housing Advocate, get some new stickers and “Yes in my Back Yard” (YIMBY) gear, learn about housing development resources such as the Land Bank and Brownfield Authority, and more. Raising awareness of our work takes time, but it’ll build additional social capital to advance our strategy. Missed the event? You can still sign up to be a Housing Advocate below. We’ll even send you one of the limited-edition YIMBY pins!

[Be a Housing Advocate]

Finally, this week we’re thrilled to launch the first Central U.P. Housing Pattern Books. Pattern books are professionally drawn housing designs that have been vetted by local zoning and building officials. This means we’ve done most of the upfront work, and you just need to make some decisions about internal mechanicals before going through the permitting process. Our unique designs were created with affordability and adaptability in mind. Coming in at around 1,200 square feet (with possible expansions), we hope that reducing the upfront soft costs to housing development will spur some additional options for starter homes in particular. Download it below. A huge thank you to the Central U.P. Regional Housing Partnership for funding this resource. We’re so thrilled to be a partner in their work.

[Download the Designs]

 

Advocacy Update: U.S. Senate Passes ROAD to Housing Act | MI HOME Program Introduced | Interstate Compact Bill Moves | 2023 Energy Law Repeal Introduced

We’ve noted in past editions how hard it’s been to find issues gaining traction in both chambers, at the state and federal levels. Recent weeks have brought a few worth highlighting.

After the House passed its version of housing legislation last year, the U.S. Senate combined provisions from both chambers into a substitute bill (HR 6644), the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which passed 89–9. The path forward in the House is less certain. The main sticking point is Section 901, a Senate-added provision restricting institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes. That provision wasn’t in the original House bill and is opposed by a broad coalition of real estate trade groups. House members have also signaled interest in attaching unrelated priorities, including bank deregulation and a CBDC ban, as conditions for their support.

On the interstate medical licensure front: after months of stalled progress on keeping Michigan in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which allows more than 8,000 doctors and medical professionals to practice here under out-of-state licenses, an agreement has emerged to pass a clean bill (HB 5455) that continues our participation and removes the sunset provision so we can stop having this fight every five years. The delay came down to whose name goes on the bill, the kind of politics we’d prefer not to navigate, but a reality in a divided legislature. Regardless, we’re glad it’s moving and applaud the progress.

Back to housing: we were encouraged to see the introduction of legislation implementing the MI HOME Program (HB 5660–5661). This multi-program proposal would invest $800 million over five years into building new homes, rehabbing existing ones, encouraging zoning reform, establishing a revolving loan fund, supporting employer-driven solutions, and more. It’s being framed as the alternative to a separate housing package that takes a more prescriptive approach to local zoning.

Finally, the Michigan House introduced HB 5710 & 5711, which would repeal the 2023 Clean Energy and Jobs Act passed and eliminate the renewable energy portfolio minimums passed in 2016. We don’t expect it to move in the Senate, and we’re concerned it could draw attention away from HB 4007 and 4283, the bills that would ensure U.P. RICE natural gas generators are counted in the 2023 energy law calculations, protecting U.P. residents and businesses from significant rate increases. We appreciate the House’s continued attention to energy as an economic development issue.

 

Housing Summit Brings National Speakers, Solutions-Focused Sessions

You’ve seen a lot come out of Housing Now in recent weeks: developer support groups, pattern books, educational events, and the Housing Advocates list. That pace is intentional. Housing Now isn’t here to just talk about the problem; it’s here to put tools in people’s hands so they can actually do something about it. Because there’s no single solution to the housing shortage, we need an all-of-the-above approach.

That philosophy, treating housing as a systems problem that requires practical, coordinated action, is the core theme of the inaugural Central U.P. Housing Solutions Summit. The morning will feature updates from key players, including the National Home Builders Association. The afternoon shifts to action: building a YIMBY coalition, updating zoning codes, deploying tools like brownfield TIF, and more. You’ll leave with energy and with the tools to put it to work.

Space is limited. Sign up early. We’re also actively seeking sponsors; all net revenue from the event goes to our Housing Acceleration Fund, which supports the broader implementation work in our 2026 Strategy.

 

Partnership Highlights is our bi-weekly update for community leaders, local government partners, and key stakeholders, with highlights shared monthly on the LSCP blog to keep the broader community informed on the work shaping prosperous communities across Marquette County.