Critics challenge value of Make MI Home grants

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist announced another round of taxpayer-funded Make MI Home grants May 28.

Since launching in May 2024, the program has allocated $1.43 million to retain talent in a state struggling with slow population growth. Supporters say it implements recommendations from the Grow Michigan Together Council, while others argue it wastes taxpayer money.

The program is run by the Michigan Growth Office, housed within the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. A July 2024 MEDC press release described it as part of a comprehensive strategy to attract and keep residents, with $500,000 in initial grants.

Skeptics remain unconvinced. Michael Van Beek, research director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, called the council’s report that inspired the program “cliched jargon-laden claptrap.” He argued in an email to Michigan Capitol Confidential that the funding is too small to affect population trends. The real issue, he said, is lack of opportunity.

“Fix that and there will be no need to bribe people to stay,” Van Beek said.

Van Beek pointed CapCon to a Mackinac Center growth blueprint from 2023.

“The council should have narrowed its focus to a few evidence-based, practical policies that Michigan policymakers could consider,” Van Beek told CapCon. “The Make MI Home program stands zero chance of growing the state.”

Two of Van Beek’s colleagues recently singled out a policy: giving $2,000 grants to select Central Michigan University graduates who stay in Union Township, where the school is located. Michael LaFaive and Aiden Tanis of the wrote in a July 30 blog post that such grants are tiny and unlikely to influence graduates’ decisions.

“The state should not give taxpayer money for graduate retention to local economic development agencies in the first place,” LaFaive and Tanis wrote. ”Doing so only robs many Peters to pay a few Pauls, who are paid not to move.”

Contractors, builders, and investors reported avoiding construction projects in the township due to local government hurdles, LaFaive wrote in an open letter to township officials.

LaFaive added in an email to CapCon: “Programs like this suffer from a fatal conceit of government planning. It would be wiser policy to clear away the hurdles that make Michigan a less attractive place to live, work and invest than other states.”

The MEDC did not respond to a request for comment.