Housing has been the center of conversation in the legislature. Those conversations have centered around workforce development, the need for licensure, attainable housing, regulations and how the actions of local governments impact the ability to build housing people can afford.

And let’s be honest, while legislators, groups and individuals all agree there is a need to “build, baby, build,” how we get there varies.

While the HBA of Michigan has been engaged in supporting incentives, we realize we can’t buy our way out of the housing crisis. Housing is a critical piece to solving so many issues the state of Michigan is currently facing.

If Michigan is going to be successful in growing our population and creating employment opportunities, housing must be included in the conversation. Our population is aging, which means we need to build housing for a population that wants to step down, or move into independent or assisted living. Housing is the center of all these conversations. And as we look at legislative policies, one must look at what the unintended consequences will be. Just because policy sounds good, doesn’t mean it will have the desired outcome.

Historically, Michigan voters see a change in party in the governor’s office every eight years. With governor Whitmer elected as a democrat, political math would give the edge to a candidate running as a republican. But wait, there is a new dynamic this year. Mayor Duggan (Detroit), did not seek re-election as mayor and is running for governor as an independent.

As candidates for governor in 2026 continue to build their campaign, we want to offer you opportunities to hear from all the candidates who want to be the CEO of the state of Michigan in 2027. Governor Whitmer is unable to seek re-election due to term limits, so we are guaranteed to have a new governor in 2027.

What does all this mean for you? There are five candidates running in the democrat primary at the time of this writing. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, former Cape Coral, Fla., Mayor Marni Sawicki and John Misho. Jocelyn Benson is the front runner among the democrats running.

There are ten candidates running on the republican side at the time of this writing. Congressman John James, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, former Attorney General Mike Cox, former Michigan Speaker of the House Tom Leonard, Karla Wagner, Anthony Hudson, Ralph Rebandt, William Null, Joyce Gipson and Evan Space.

As mentioned earlier, Mike Duggan is running as an independent. As the independent candidate, Mr. Duggan won’t be on the ballot until the November general election.

Your government relations team at the Home Builders Association of Michigan, along with their political arm, the Friends of Housing Political Action Committee is starting a podcast where you will hear from each of the candidates, should they agree to participate. Each episode will feature one candidate where we will discuss his or her policy agenda and ideas on housing.

While these are going to be recorded, we would love for you to email any questions you may have, either for all the candidates, or for an individual candidate. You can email your questions to Dawn Crandall, EVP of Government Relations at dawn@hbaofmichigan.com. Please put in the subject line if the question is meant for a specific candidate or all of the candidates. Please get your emails in as soon as possible as we are starting to schedule recordings with the candidates.

You will also have the opportunity to meet and hear from the candidates directly. We are working with their campaigns to schedule individual meet and greets around the state. Stay tuned for more information as these get scheduled.

You will hear from Friends of Housing Political Action Committee on the need for personal donations to the FOH-PAC so we are able to financially support candidates and legislators who are going to do more than talk about housing, but will actually work to pass good public policy.

I won’t sugar coat it, campaigns are expensive and if we want to have the funds available, that means you need to put some skin in the game. We are asking each member to make a personal donation of $100 to the FOH-PAC. You can either make your donation online by using the QR code, or, you can write a personal check (or a check from your LLC) to the Friends of Housing PAC and mail it to 6427 Centurion, Ste. 100, Lansing, MI 48917.

Let’s help Friends get elected in 2026 so we aren’t fighting with Foes in 2027.