Tiny homes tackle homelessness around Michigan
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By Donté Smith
Capital News Service
Tiny homes are gaining attention in the state as a potential solution for housing challenges, offering a creative approach to affordability and community-building.
While often showcased as a minimalist lifestyle choice on platforms like Netflix, where shows such as “Tiny House Nation” highlight their appeal, they’re also being deployed as a tool to address homelessness and housing density.
These compact dwellings, defined by the International Residential Code, are 400 square feet or less in floor space. Although they can be built on foundations, most are built on trailers. More people are experiencing homelessness as affordable housing has become harder to find.
Homelessness in the state increased by 8% in 2022 compared to 2021, going from 30,113 people to 32,589, according to the latest report from Michigan’s Campaign to End Homelessness. In Michigan, where state-specific rules for tiny homes are absent, zoning and utility infrastructure often dictate the feasibility of projects.
Land
New quarantines on firewood are helping reduce the spread of invasive insects
By Gabriel S. Martinez
Capital News Service
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is placing quarantines around the state to contain an outbreak of invasive species, mainly by way of transporting firewood infested with pests. Laurel Downs, the forest health conservation coordinator for the national Don’t Move Firewood campaign, said when insects get introduced into a new ecosystem from global trade, sometimes through packaging material and mostly by firewood transportation, they typically lack any natural predators in the new environment.
That allows them to infest the wood.
“Usually it’s years before people discover them, so they tend to be well-established by the time managers start trying to tackle the issue,” Downs said. Quarantines are regulatory measures to prevent the spread of the pests after they have been established into a new ecosystem, according to the agriculture department.
Nearshore
Study warns of climate risks to hazardous waste facilities
By Anna Rossow
Capital News Service
A new Government Accountability Office study of hazardous waste facilities found them at risk of damage from climate-related events such as flooding and hurricanes.
Some are in the six-state Great Lakes region, including ones near southern Lake Michigan.
According to the study, there are more than 700 treatment, storage and waste facilities in the U.S., 68% of which are at risk of a climate hazard such as wildfires, storm surges and rising sea levels, which can be exacerbated by climate change.
The study recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency provide assistance and training on managing facility climate risks. Kimberly Tyson, the manager of the hazardous waste section in the materials management division at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, said hazardous waste includes ignitable chemicals that may harm people.
She said the department tries to inspect Michigan facilities at least four times a year.
The department’s district staff inspects waste containers to see if they are being stored properly and are of good integrity without any leaks, she said.
“They’re also looking at the facility and making sure that it’s in compliance with our rules and nothing is out of place,” said Tyson. “They’re not getting sloppy with housekeeping and stuff like that.”
Facilities have backup plans or contingency plans in case a leak occurs, Tyson said.
Land
Rural population shrinks in Michigan, political clout weakens
By Victor Wooddell
Capital News Service
The number of young people moving to small towns and rural areas across America has been increasing, but not so in Michigan, where populations in rural areas are shrinking and aging, according to a recent report by the Census Bureau. This national trend reverses a pattern since the 1980s in which more people moved from rural areas to urban centers. In Michigan, however, both urban centers like Detroit as well as rural areas continue to lose people under 45, Census data shows.