LANSING (WWJ) — Gov. Gretchen knows inflation and the rising cost of living are making things tough on Michiganders these days.
“No one likes paying $6 for a box of cereal or more for an oil change than they did last year,” she said during her State of the State address Wednesday night. “But I want to be upfront with you: I cannot solve global inflation alone. No one person can — not even the President.”
But Whitmer on Wednesday laid out her plans to cut down on Michiganders’ most expensive costs: housing, child care, transportation, education, utilities and food.
Focusing on housing — typically the largest expense in anyone’s budget — Whitmer said the state’s housing stock is “old,” with nearly half of all units in Michigan having been built before 1970.
She noted school districts near Traverse City are searching for housing as teachers have nowhere to go, while areas in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula don’t have anywhere for growing families to go, and Metro Detroiters are seeing higher rates when they re-sign rental leases.
“In other words, the rent is too damn high and we don’t have enough housing,” Whitmer said during her sixth State of the State, referencing the meme-worthy New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan.
“Our response will be simple: build, baby, build,” Whitmer said.
Last year Whitmer commissioned Michigan’s first-ever statewide housing plan, setting a goal of 75,000 new or refurbished units in five years. Between November 2022 and November 2023, Whitmer says the state’s four largest counties — Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Kent — have seen over 8,000 units.
In 2024, she’s proposing to increase the number of single-family homes, apartments and mixed-use buildings by investing nearly $1.4 billion to build or rehabilitate nearly 10,000 homes.
“That’s 10 times what we put into housing just 10 years ago. Getting this done will support thousands of good-paying, middle-class jobs in the skilled trades—from pipefitters and carpenters to bricklayers and roofers,” Whitmer said, per a prepared version of her speech.
In other ways to cut costs for Michiganders, Whitmer also pushed for a rebate on buying new cars, proposing a $1,000 rebate off any car and $2,000 for EVs. She also said the Caring for MI Family Tax Credit would save thousands of Michigan families up to $5,000 on their taxes by allowing them to write off caregiving expenses including counseling, transportation, and nursing or respite services.
Delivering the Michigan GOP’s Republican Response to Whitmer’s address Wednesday, Sen. Aric Nesbitt pushed back on the governor’s claims that Michigan is doing well.
“The governor insists that ‘Bidenomics’ is working. Is that what you’re experiencing? Because the numbers tell a different story. Our unemployment rate is 40th in the nation, our median household income is 37th and for most families, if they’ve seen any increase in pay, it’s been wiped out by inflation,” Nesbitt said.
He said those numbers “reflect the reality of our situation as opposed to the rosy picture the governor tried to paint for you tonight.”
Other highlights of Whitmer's speech Wednesday included proposing "tuition-free" community college, growing the state's population and creating more jobs in the state to build cars, semiconductors and batteries instead of in China.
You can read the full text of Whitmer’s prepared speech on the state's website.