James Windell
The ambiance at Elkenburg Park in South Haven Ward One was more like a picnic than a formal City Council meeting on Thursday, September 2, 2025.
Holding their regular meeting on a sunny, pleasantly warm summer evening, the South Haven City Council met outside for the first time in two years. Before the meeting, while the city staff was serving hot dogs, cupcakes and bottled water, City Manager Kate Hosier said that they would like to hold one City Council meeting a year outdoors. However, she said that moving the video recording equipment, setting up chairs, and preparing food is a huge undertaking for the staff. Nonetheless, the picnic atmosphere prevailed during the meeting as the meeting seemed more efficient and more congenial than usual.
Seated under the pavilion, but facing west, most council members had to wear sunglasses to contend with the bright evening sun settling over Lake Michigan. Although it was a relatively brief agenda, the meeting was efficient with a discussion at the end of the hour-long meeting about the persistent problem of housing.
A report prepared by Assistant City Manager Michael Landis was presented by City Manager Hosier. In introducing the report, Hosier said: “As council knows, housing is one of our priorities. We have just had a delay on the Hales development and we’ve had some progress on Overton.”
Hosier said that the City is continuing to work with Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids as they prepare their application to the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), targeted for April 2026. Also, the City is working with South Haven Charter Township. The Township has approved a number of Planned Unit Developments (PUD).
For instance, Samaritas is working with the Township to construct a 40-three unit 55-year and older living facility along M-140 in front of the Senior Services building. This development is set to provide seniors with an income-based rent structure to save on housing costs. Also, along 73 ½ street, Safe and Easy Self Storage received preliminary site plan approval for 45 homes. The developer is in the process of seeking final PUD approval from the Township. And, along County Road 388, a 100-unit development has been approved by the Township.
Following Hosier’s update, the mayor and council members all agreed about the need for additional housing, but councilman Joe Reeser expressed frustration about the amount of talking about the problem – without tangible results.
“I think we all agree that housing is an issue in this town and we need more housing for all sorts of people, seniors, low income, or workforce,” Reeser said. “There seems to be a lot of moving parts, and my frustration is that we don’t have any one person taking all these moving parts and trying to put together a cohesive plan to attack all of them in one plan to help the city.”
Councilwoman Letitia Wilkens voiced her concern about an increase in homelessness, which she said indicates the urgency for a solution to the housing problem. Councilwoman Wendy Onuki added that, “It would be nice if we could sit down and develop a three-year or five-year plan of what actionable steps we are going to take to develop a plan for 100 more houses or something like that…something that is more concrete for us to work toward. I would want for us as a council and community to make something like that happen.”
Councilman George Sleeper weighed into the discussion by saying that, “Housing is really a difficult situation, but I think the city is working and doing what it can do to improve the housing situation.”
Reeser ended the discussion by challenging the city staff: “I would challenge the city staff as to how we can put all the moving parts together and listen to what residents want and then come up with a cohesive plan.”
It is apparent that increasing affordable housing will be on the City Council agenda for the foreseeable future.
