MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — “I really thank God for this opportunity to even be on this journey.”
Montrell Dockery is an educator and a family man.
“We have four kids… we're all homegrown,” he said. “We're both from this community, born and raised here in Muskegon Heights.”
Those roots will soon grow even deeper when he becomes a first-time homeowner.
Dockery already bought a corner lot on Ray Street, which will be transformed into a custom modern home for the whole family.
All possible because he’s the first to enroll in a new program that cuts through the red tape of the housing market, both making the process more affordable and expanding access.
“Just being able to get into a place that we can call our own and get away from the rent and get into home-ownership,” Dockery said, expressing his gratitude. “Miss Phyllis, she’s been awesome.”
That’s Phyllis Loudermill, the independent developer who’s leading the charge.
“People caught the dream,” Loudermill said of the effort.
The Heights native launched construction company HERCO in 2009.
She moved to the east side, where Loudermill began advocating through that work for the underserved, the recently incarcerated and folks she felt hadn’t gotten a fair shake.
“It was based on faithfulness, you know, just a charge to serve,” she explained.
Now back on the west side, Loudermill continued that work when she bought the old motel on Hoyt, since renamed Lott’s Landing.
Along with the name change came a new motto: ‘Lotts of Things Land Here.’
This includes second chances for folks from all different walks of life, each with their own story to tell.
Yet, Loudermill knew she had to take the effort further still if there were to be any hope of breaking the vicious cycle she’d seen play out again and again.
“It's almost so astounding, it’s hurting on one hand, but it's a blessing on the other that we can do this to help,” she said.
The first phase of the resulting development, ‘New Promise’, called for around ten homes to be built on several of the city’s stock of approximately 1,300 abandoned, blighted or vacant lots.
With the help of various partnerships, including the city’s ‘Reaching New Heights’ initiative, the program offers down payment assistance and other resources to remove barriers to entry.
The ultimate goal: transitioning the estimated 50 to 65% of city residents who currently rent into home ownership.
Once the work reaches completion, the project will mean some of the first new houses to break ground in the Heights in just shy of two decades.
“That permission to dream again is what instills hope in a community,” City Manager Troy Bell noted.
Yet, Bell said, the work would be only the first of a multi-pronged development strategy, given the scale of demand for new housing revealed in a recent feasibility study.
“We could build 175 new homes a year in Muskegon Heights and not meet the demand,” Bell said, citing data contained within the report.
Undertaking this journey, Dockery said, meant a great deal more than building equity.
“Generational wealth,” he began. “This isn't a home that we will probably live in for the rest of our life, but something we'll pass on down to our kids and to begin to build that.”
It means building a better tomorrow.
Loudermill says around 500 people have stayed at 'Lott's Landing' since the beginning of the pandemic.
She said she had received more than 50 inquiries regarding the new housing development in just the last several days.
Loudermill asked interested parties to contact the city manager’s office or reach out to her directly at (616) 828-6750.
Work is expected to begin at the first site on Ray Street with cleanup next week.
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