Battle Creek Launches Fund to Build 1,000 New Homes by 2035

Battle Creek is turning a housing crisis into a comeback story, and the whole community is pitching in to make it happen.

With more than 3,000 missing housing units, the Michigan city has been watching potential workers look elsewhere for places to live. Now, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the City of Battle Creek, Battle Creek Unlimited, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation have joined forces with a concrete solution: the Battle Creek Housing Fund.

The foundation kicked things off with $750,000 in seed funding announced Friday at a gathering of more than 30 business and community leaders. It's the kind of partnership that shows what happens when everyone agrees the problem is too big to ignore.

Joe Sobieralski, President and CEO of Battle Creek Unlimited, has been sounding the alarm about housing for over seven years. When he moved to the area a decade ago, he couldn't find many places to live. As he talked to businesses already in town and ones considering moving there, the same theme kept coming up: not enough homes means not enough workers.

The issue goes beyond just affordable housing. Battle Creek needs more inventory across all income levels, from entry-level apartments to family homes. Without enough options, people who work in Battle Creek end up living in neighboring communities, creating a workforce drain that's lasted for decades.

The Ripple Effect

When workers can't find housing, businesses struggle to hire. When businesses struggle, they look elsewhere to expand or relocate. Battle Creek found itself in a cycle where good jobs existed but empty houses didn't, pushing potential residents toward larger nearby markets.

The Housing Fund breaks that cycle. By focusing on both market-rate and affordable units spread throughout the city, the initiative gives developers the extra push they need to make projects pencil out. Battle Creek Unlimited will handle the market-side developments, while LISC manages affordable housing projects.

The city's goal of 1,000 units by 2035 might sound ambitious, but it's grounded in real data from a 2025 housing study completed in 2024. That research, funded by multiple partners, laid out exactly what Battle Creek needed and how to get there.

For Sobieralski and his team, success will come from pointing to tangible wins. Get one or two projects completed, show investors real results, and momentum builds from there. It's the same principle that's driven Battle Creek's recent economic upturn, now applied to the housing challenge that's been holding that growth back.

One thousand new homes means one thousand new chances for families to put down roots where they work, for kids to stay in the same school, and for a community to stop losing its workforce to neighboring towns. Battle Creek is building more than houses. It's building its future, one foundation at a time.