Mayor Sheffield issues Executive Order to more than double contributions to Affordable Housing Trust Fund

• Trust Fund now expected to generate approximately $4M annually to support affordable housing, more than double current amount
• 100% of proceeds from the sale of all City-owned commercial property to be deposited into Trust Fund up from current level of 40%

Reaffirming her commitment to build and preserve more affordable housing in Detroit, Mayor Mary Sheffield today signed an Executive Order directing that going forward 100% of proceeds from the sale of city-owned commercial property will go to the Affordable Housing Development and Preservation Trust Fund.

Currently, the City's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, which Sheffield spearheaded in 2014 as a city council member, currently requires 40% of sales proceeds to be deposited into the Trust Fund. The change will more than double the minimum amount the City contributes to the Trust Fund each year to an estimated $4 million. Over the past several years, the City contribution has been slightly less than $2 million per year to support affordable housing development in the city.

"The Affordable Housing Trust Fund has been a great tool that has helped several important projects get past the planning stage and eventually built to provide deeply affordable and permanent supportive housing for our most vulnerable residents," said Mayor Sheffield. "The need for affordable housing in Detroit is greater and so is the potential of the Trust Fund. Directing 100% of commercial property sale proceeds to the Trust Fund is one of the many ways my administration is going to increase our capacity to build more affordable housing."

The Trust Fund provides gap financing, low-interest loans, and grants to developers to keep units affordable and prevent displacement. The Detroit Affordable Housing and Development Preservation Fund supports construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable housing units, with a major focus on protecting residents from rising costs.

Recent affordable housing projects that have benefitted from the Trust Fund include:

• LaJoya Gardens - 42 units of new construction affordable housing on W. Vernor in Southwest Detroit with rents reserved for households earning at or below 30% to 80% of the Area Median Income.
• The Residences at St. Matthews - adaptive reuse of a former catholic school on the city's far east side that is now providing 25 units of permanent supportive housing for individuals struggling with homelessness (no income requirement) and 21 units of affordable housing based on incomes at or below 30% to 80% AMI.
• The Hive - new construction affordable housing across Gratiot from the Eastern Market now under construction that will offer 78 units with rents based on incomes at or below 30% to 60% of AMI.

The Mayor signed the Executive Order at LaJoya Gardens, which received a $1.1 million investment from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which was critical to the project moving forward. The project opened just over a year ago in January 2025 and offers rents starting at just $540 per month.

Under the ordinance, at least 70% of the expenditures from the Fund in any given three-year period will be directed to projects that provide housing units to households making 30% or less of the Area Median Income. The remainder of Fund expenditures will support projects that provide housing units to households making 50% or below of AMI.

Units receiving funds from the Trust Fund shall remain affordable for at least 30 years from the date of completion of construction, with priority given for proposals that are likely to be affordable in perpetuity, either by deed restriction or the nature of the developer.

"To have a healthy city that is affordable to people of all income levels, affordability must be sustainable, and long-term rent commitments in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund help with that sustainability," said Mayor Sheffield.

Mayor Sheffield's Executive Order takes effect July 1, 2026 to coincide with the start of the new fiscal year.