Well, it only took nine months, but the State of Michigan finally has a budget in place for the 2007-2008 fiscal year. Like everyone else we're a little burned out on the subject, but you can read a great summary of the major department budgets on the MNA website.

Of course, the best news for our industry relates to the first-ever funding of the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund. A line item introduced by the House of Representatives into the Department of Labor and Economic Growth budget (which you can read more about here) included $2.1 million for the MHCDF!

This is definitely short of the $100 million goal our coalition set for this year, but it's certainly a great start. The State will undoubtedly face more fiscal challenges in next year's budget, but the Trust Fund will continue to advocate for more investment in MHCDF.

There's clearly more work to be done, but this week's action from the Legislature sends a message to our industry that they value our work. Major kudos go out to Majority Floor Leader Tobocman and Senator Jansen for their support this year.

Now... back to work!