Village of Clinton has ‘profound concerns’ regarding Sen. Slotkin’s National Housing Emergency Act of 2026

 Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan)

By BRAD HEINEMAN

Clinton Local

A national housing act, introduced as potential legislation in January by United States Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan), has drummed up a response from elected and appointed officials within the village of Clinton.

Slotkin’s first bill of the new year, the National Housing Emergency Act of 2026, was introduced in January. It requires the President to declare a national housing emergency and invoke the Defense Production Act to incentivize housing production with the goal of building four million homes across the country.

According to a news release from Slotkin’s office, “my bill addresses one of the biggest costs middle-class Michiganders face each month: housing.”

“I don’t know a single Michigander who believes that housing is affordable,” Slotkin said in the release. “And there is nothing more fundamental to the American Dream than owning your own home, and it has become increasingly difficult for middle class Americans to do this. The United States is in a housing crisis and we need to act now.”

To achieve the goal of building four million homes, the legislation would boost domestically-produced materials to support the construction and rehabilitation of housing while pushing states and localities to cut red tape currently standing in the way of building middle class housing.

In more detail, Slotkin’s bill goes on to do the following:

• Creates a new housing standard by choosing how the federal government gives out money. “No one gets a blank check.” It rewards pro-growth communities with federal dollars and holds communities accountable that refuse to grow.

• Pushes states and localities to cut regulations and make way for more housing. “It compels state and local governments to change laws like allowing commercial properties to get turned into housing, eliminating single-family zoning or allowing for accessory dwelling units like ‘in-law suites’ or ‘granny flats,’” Slotkin’s bill details.

• Uses the full strength of the U.S. government through the Defense Production Act to direct domestic industries to produce essential materials (lumber, steel, manufactured housing) and services to speed up housing development and rehabilitation.

During the housing emergency, the bill will institute a freeze for states or localities from passing laws, regulations or rules that impose a burden on the construction or rehabilitation of housing during the period of the emergency.

In June 2025, Slotkin called for a national housing emergency in her Economic War Plan speech. This legislation, according to Slotkin’s news release, is a “concrete” follow-up to that call.

The National Housing Emergency Act of 2026 is endorsed by the National Housing Conference, the National Leased Housing Association and the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association.

It is not endorsed, however, by the village of Clinton, which drafted a letter to be sent to Slotkin’s office in Washington D.C. formally expressing “our profound concerns regarding the proposed National Housing Emergency Act of 2026.”

“While we acknowledge the national dialogue surrounding housing availability, the mandates within this act — specifically the elimination of single-family zoning districts — represent a fundamental departure from the established principles of sound community development and local governance,” Clinton’s drafted letter said.

The village’s response was approved by both the planning commission and the village council. It was signed by Village Manager Kevin Cornish, Planning Commission Chairman David Orlowski and Village President Doris Kemner.

According to Cornish, when speaking to the village council earlier this month, a community should have a balanced ecosystem consisting of a business district, industrial district, medium density housing (apartments closer to the downtown) and lower density housing.

“You ruin all of that. This act threatens to undermine the neighborhood integrity that residents prioritize when choosing a small town like the village of Clinton or any other small town in America,” Cornish said. “…We look at it that we are better positioned to do (the) planning and zoning. Basically, they want to streamline everything. Well, I think the streamlining, when you look at it, can cause a lot of problems.”

Cornish went on to describe the proposed housing emergency act as a “short-term gain to pick up a few extra homes,” which could result in long-term, chronic problems for a number of communities.

The village’s letter details specific reasons why the principles of community development should not be tampered with. Those reasons include preservation of neighborhood integrity, concerns regarding federal overreach and market distortion, lessons from regional infrastructure failures, the high cost of expedited development, necessity of local oversight and the principle of home rule.

“Our commission holds that local municipalities are best positioned to determine the zoning densities that meet their unique infrastructure capacities and character,” a portion of the letter says. “Furthermore, we find the proposed use of the Defense Production Act to subsidize or accelerate the home-building industry to be an imprudent application of federal power. Historically, when the federal government attempts to ‘pick winners’ in the private sector, it creates artificial market distortions.”

In terms of infrastructure failures, the village said “inadequate planning” led to recurring flooding and sewage overflows experienced in Metro Detroit because development outpaced the capacity of utility and stormwater infrastructure.

The state of California, for a past practice of bypassing local zoning and environmental oversight, was another example referenced by the village.

“In those regions, the prioritization of rapid development led to residential construction in high-risk zones, such as brush-covered hillsides with unstable soil profiles. The results were catastrophic,” the village’s letter states.

Local site plan reviews are not merely bureaucratic hurdles, the village said, but they are essential diagnostic tools to ensure utility capacity, transportation integrity and environmental stewardship.

“Cutting corners in the development process is a short-term strategy with long-term liabilities,” the village said. “We urge you to support policies that empower local communities to grow responsibly, ensuring that the housing we build today remains safe, affordable and sustainable for the generations of Michiganders to come.”