News Photo by Steve Schulwitz A for sale sign sits planted in the front yard of a home in Alpena on Monday. The housing crisis in Alpena still impacts many aspects of the community.

ALPENA — Finding a place to live in Alpena is challenging.

Whether finding a rental or a house to purchase, the inventory of available properties remains thin and prices are elevated because of the limited supply and high demand.

Local officials, however, are taking small steps to help combat the local housing crisis. Organizations like the Alpena County Land Bank and Target Alpena are working with developers to help bolster the housing market.

Lenny Avery, economic development coordinator for the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce, said he has been trying to lure grants and urge developers to invest in housing in Alpena. He said two large projects are in their infancy and if they become realities, there could be a dynamic shift in the housing dilemma locally.

He said the first project, which is early in the process, would see 66 apartments built overtop of a restaurant and commercial businesses on the vacant property on River Street where the former Alpena Power Co. used to be. Avery said a developer and a co-developer plan to use a modular design, which would make the project cheaper, but changes would need to be made to a portion of Alpena’s infrastructure in order to accommodate the project.

“There are still a lot of different things needed to make this project work,” Avery said. “The city would have to run 12-inch mains up Chisholm Street and over to that site, which is going to cost about $1 million.”

Avery added that parking for residents in the new apartments would also have to be addressed before the project begins if it does move forward.

“We would need between 80 or 90 more parking spaces, but we are trying to work through these challenges,” Avery said.

The second project, which would be on 90 acres of the city-owned property on U.S.-23 North, is spearheaded by a pair of developers who want to build housing from the ground up. Avery said the potential for that project is huge because many homes and apartments could be built on the property and a new neighborhood would be established.

“They have sent in design plans for over 200 housing units,” he said. “One developer has already submitted a purchase agreement and the other is expected to in the next couple weeks.”

Alpena owns the property where the project is proposed.

“Both of these projects are huge, but they take time for them to get off of the ground,” Avery said.

Avery said the lack of housing is preventing a growth spurt in Alpena, as people who want to move here for work or to retire struggle to find a place to live. He said it also prevents younger families from becoming members of the community.

“Housing continues to be a barrier and continues to set us back,” Avery said. “I want to see people pushing more strollers than walkers. We want to see our population numbers get younger. We have large employers who are having difficulty hiring workers. We have over 100 open jobs at the hospital alone. We need to find a solution to this problem, as quickly and efficiently as we can.”

Last year, the land bank received a $500,000 grant from the state for blight elimination. It was decided the money would be used to tear down old and blighted homes and eventually have new housing units built on their property. There are structures on Bedford Street, and another on Lake Street, that are slated to be removed. The former Big Boy on Chisholm Street is also scheduled to be torn down for a future project that will include housing and possibly commercial businesses.

“You will begin to see these things town down in the next several weeks,” Avery said. “You’ll see tractors and bulldozers knocking down houses.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.