Page 17 - State of the Region Report 2020

State of the Lansing Region, 2020
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Housing Construction

From 2014 to 2018, the Lansing region experienced im-
provement in the construction industry, with permits for
single-family housing totaling almost 4,800. However, the
number of permits per 1,000 residents puts Lansing among
the regions with the lowest new residential construction.
Lansing’s residential construction growth rate was 8.8%,
ranking Lansing 11th for single-family housing construction
permits.

The pace at which housing stock is created can be viewed
as a proxy for growing population and household formation,
and for any corresponding economic growth.

Livability and the
Working Poor

All regions have a portion of the working population that
struggles to make ends meet. One definition for “working
poor” was recently put forward by the United Way. This
definition is called ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income Con-
strained, and Employed). According to the 2016 ALICE data
(the most recent year for which data is available), about
40% of the Lansing region’s households fall below the ALICE
threshold. The Lansing region is near the bottom among
peer regions for the ALICE-defined share of working house-
holds that struggle financially.