GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It's no secret. Finding a place to rent in Grand Rapids has become tough.
It's stressing people out like Evan Martinez Rios, who's staying with her grandparents because of how expensive apartments are.
"It just sucks. I don't like it. I will have to get out a good chunk of deposit paying first month's rent, last month's rent, plus getting furniture, clothes, food, like basic needs. I know it's going to be more than like 5,000 to 10,000 just for all of that in an apartment," said Martinez-Rios.
Fellow apartment hunter Richard DeFouw says he's also struggling.
"Everything's out of my price range. Everything looks to be one bedroom, $1,200 and up, and that's out in 68th Street. And those are places that I had friends living in, like, two or three bedrooms for that price, same apartment complex, maybe like, three or four years ago,” said DeFouw.
Unfortunately for them and other renters, they are looking in one of the toughest cities in the country.
RentCafe reports that Grand Rapids is ranked the 11th toughest city to find an apartment in. It says 95% of apartments are occupied, over 70% of renters renew their lease and apartments that are vacant stay available for only 35 days, with at least 10 people competing for that one spot.
"With how Grand Rapids is going now, I'm not going to be surprised if we rank higher in the near future," said Martinez-Rios.
So, what can we do?
Vice President of Government Affairs for the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Josh Lunger says it comes down to community partners finding ways to increase housing at every income level.
"Whether that's land-use decisions, and talking about especially, how do we fill along corridors, which is a big priority for Housing Next, or if it's responsibly and adequately over deploying the tools like housing tax increment financing and other things that the state has enabled or the locals have invested in or it's just zoning and code obstacles,” said Lunger.
Lunger says this problem has been an issue for the last six to eight years, and roughly 50,000 units are needed in areas in Kent and Ottawa County.
He says community leaders have already begun looking at possible solutions and encourages people to step up and help the issue.