LifeBUILDERS Receives $50K from MSHDA for Improvement Projects

Recently, representatives from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) visited the headquarters of LifeBUILDERS (20141 Kelly Rd.) and presented the nonprofit organization with a $50,000 check to carry out housing and public amenity improvement projects. Working to reclaim, empower and build in Detroit’s Regent Park neighborhood, LifeBUILDERS has been undertaking many of these projects during the past few months.

Joining MSHDA representatives and LifeBUILDERS Co-Founder and Executive Director Larry Johnson were Regent Park homeowners and City of Detroit Councilman District 3 Scott Benson.

“MSHDA's Neighborhood Enhancement program began in 2016. It’s designed for quick-turn, high-impact neighborhood projects aimed to enhance and stabilize communities,” said Pierre-Denise Gilliam, Housing Specialist, MSHDA. “It’s our hope that when you drive through the neighborhoods and communities that people can tell we’ve been there and made some much needed improvements.”

“I want to thank MSHDA for its confidence in LifeBUILDERS and its continued partnership. “This grant is a testimony to our significant, ongoing investment and the transformational work we do to benefit the entire Regent Park community,” said Johnson. “City of Detroit Councilman Scott Benson is here with us today. We are well represented in the 3rd District by Mr. Benson. He’s been an advocate of our work here in the community, and we are grateful for his support.”

“Everyone wants to talk about home ownership and home repair and how we bring people into the neighborhoods. LifeBUILDERS is an organization that can get it done,” said Councilman Benson. “Organizations like LifeBUILDERS and MSHDA are willing to make investments in our community, and that's how we build a neighborhood and stabilize Detroit, one house, one neighborhood at a time.”

Since 2005, LifeBUILDERS has acquired and preserved nearly 60 properties, two apartment buildings, pocket parks and numerous vacant lots, and provided landscaping and beautification on several of those lots. It also has acquired an abandoned Detroit Public School and transformed it into a $1.2 million, state of the art early childhood education center; repurposed a Chase Bank branch into a first-class community center; upgraded and maintained a formerly dilapidated city park; and has coordinated thousands of volunteer hours in cleaning up and removing blight that has plagued the Regent Park community.

The LifeBUILDERS’ enhancements projects will be completed by the fall and will make a noticeable difference within the community.

About LifeBUILDERS

LifeBUILDERS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created in 2005 that has been passionate about the revitalization of a community on Detroit’s far east side known as Regent Park. Its commitment to #InfluenceDetroit has been actualized through a multi-faceted mission: reclaim the neighborhood, empower the youth and build communitas. To learn more about the transformative work it does in Detroit’s Regent Park neighborhood, visit www.lifebuildersdetroit.com.

About Michigan State Housing Development Authority

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) provides financial and technical assistance through public and private partnerships to create and preserve decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents and to engage in community economic development activities to revitalize urban and rural communities.*

*MSHDA's loans and operating expenses are financed through the sale of tax-exempt and taxable bonds as well as notes to private investors, not from state tax revenues. Proceeds are loaned at below-market interest rates to developers of rental housing, and help fund mortgages and home improvement loans. MSHDA also administers several federal housing programs. For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/mshda.