Everyone agrees we need more housing. Here’s what fewer people talk about: even if we approved every project tomorrow, we don’t have enough electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and builders to construct them. There isn’t just a shortage of homes – there’s a shortage of people to build them.

That’s not just a housing problem. It’s a missed opportunity for a whole generation of West Michigan kids.

Not every student wants a four-year degree, and not every good career requires one. A skilled tradesperson in Michigan can out-earn plenty of office jobs – with no student debt, real job security, and work that you can point to and say: I built that.

My plan:

I’ll partner with our unions and trade schools to build a direct pipeline from our high schools into skilled trades careers – apprenticeships, certifications, and job placements that start the day students are ready, right out of high school.

Our building trades unions already run some of the best training programs in the country. Our schools already have students hungry for a path that doesn’t require six figures of debt. The state’s job is to connect them – with funding, with credit for career-tech education, and with partnerships that treat the trades as the first-choice career they are.

This is how one policy solves two problems: our students get careers they can build a life on, and our community gets the workforce to build the homes we’re short on. Our kids building our neighborhoods – that’s the West Michigan way.