If you have been looking for rental housing in the Port Huron area, or St. Clair County as a whole, you know that rentals are few and far between. To address this reality, Port Huron City Council adopted an ordinance change.
The change will allow Port Huron Housing to operate both the Public Housing Program and the Housing Choice Voucher, or Section 8, outside the city and county. The program can now expand into Sanilac, Lapeer, and Macomb counties. It is endorsed by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and the collaborative model is being promoted statewide.
James Dewey, Executive Director of Port Huron, Marysville, St. Clair, and Algonac Housing Commissions, said, “Currently our Housing Choice Voucher program’s approved jurisdiction through HUD is all of St. Clair County and we would like to expand that to Sanilac, Lapeer and Macomb Counties because our clients are not having much luck finding available apartments within St. Clair County.”
Dewey said that the regional approach will also deconcentrate the use of vouchers within the City of Port Huron. A new low-income housing development is in the works in Fort Gratiot Township.
Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland
