TRAVERSE CITY -- A new report released today by the Michigan Land Use Institute finds an increasing number of families in the Grand Traverse region are struggling to make ends meet, and that costs for housing, transportation, food, and energy pose the most formidable obstacles to those trying to work their way out of poverty.

Using personal stories from struggling parents and children, the report, Families on the Edge: Designing Communities That Work, finds that better community planning, design, and policies could ease many of the problems Northern Michigan parents are facing.

"Our report confirms that there are low- or no-cost steps local governments can take to help out," said Institute Executive Director Hans Voss. "A lack of centrally located and affordable homes, heavy dependence on individual autos, poor access to fresh and healthy food, and 'inexpensive' housing that generates sky-high heating bills put huge financial burdens on the people who can least afford it.

"The value of this report is that it just doesn't document the struggles," Mr. Voss added. "It also offers solutions and a mechanism for achieving them through The Grand Vision, which reflects the wishes of most of the region's citizens. As it turns out, what those folks want is, in many cases, the same things hard-pressed families need to build better lives."

Families on the Edge finds that a family of four earning $22,500 a year can afford only about half the average cost in the region of rent, transportation, groceries, heat, medical expenses, daycare, clothes, phone, and taxes. The strain of this financial shortfall clearly takes a toll on families. Combined with the area's remarkably high unemployment rate, the problem is dramatically spiking demand for assistance from food pantries and social service agencies.

Families on the Edge strongly praises these organizations for the help they provide, and points to what it says are systemic solutions to the problems working and low-income families face. Among dozen of key recommendations, Families urges officials to:

Zone downtowns and other community centers to encourage housing that working people can afford, dramatically reducing their transportation costs, and expanding sewer and water capacity to accommodate residential and commercial growth in the region's community centers.

Make regional public transit more reliable and useable by workers and students. This includes educating the public about quality transit's money-saving advantages and adopting fixed bus routes that mesh seamlessly across county boundaries and provide easily accessible, comfortable, safe, reliable service.

Connect poor families to healthier, fresher food by rebuilding the local food system. This includes gearing up farmers markets to accept electronic food stamps, educating people about growing their own produce through community gardens, and establishing more farm-to-school programs that serve fresh, local foods in student cafeterias.

Mandate energy efficiency for rental properties and support energy efficiency/weatherization programs for private homes a mix of financing that includes utility investments in lieu of expanded generating capacity.

Many of these recommendations echo what 15,000 Grand Vision participants called for or endorsed during a two-year, six-county, citizen-based collaboration begun in 2008. The Grand Vision project serves Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, and Wexford Counties.

The Institute said it hopes Families on the Edge spreads awareness of, and accelerate local units' implementation of Grand Vision recommendations that improve the quality of life for all residents, including the region's most vulnerable children and families.

Grand Vision network groups, comprised of community organizations, leaders, and other interested citizens, are meeting around these issues and designing mechanisms to provide more affordable housing, better public transit, healthier food, and smarter energy policies.

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