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Affordable Housing for West Michigan
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2026 Kent County Fair Market Rent Study

As part of our commitment as a Downtown Pathways Project partner, the GRHC is currently conducting a Fair Market Rent Study for Kent County. Our goal is to bring as much as $1.7 million in additional HUD funding to our community so that we can assist more low-income families.

If your household receives an invitation to participate in the Rent Study, please respond!

Why the Fair Market Rent Study Is Needed

HUD Fair Market Rents (FMRs) establish rent benchmarks by unit size for federal rental housing subsidy programs in a given geographic area. The most recent FMRs published by HUD underestimate current rental costs in Greater Grand Rapids by $200 to $300 per unit. HUD allows housing authorities to set rent limits up to 110 percent of the established FMRs and the GRHC has set our 2026 rental payment standards at 109 percent; this helps the agency’s Housing Choice Voucher Program participants compete for available rental units but also increases the subsidy cost per household, so fewer households can be served. FMRs that more accurately reflect actual rental costs could provide the GRHC with funding to support 150 to 200 more housing vouchers and serve more families.

HUD allows housing authorities to appeal its calculated FMRs by providing evidence demonstrating that current calculations are inaccurate; the Rent Study is the means by which the GRHC will obtain the needed market data. A similar study in 2023 resulted in an average 20 percent increase in FMRs for the Grand Rapids-Wyoming Metropolitan Area.

Rent Study Methodology

The GRHC has contracted the market research firm Econometrica, Inc., to conduct the Fair Market Rent Study.

  • During late July 2026, 25,000 randomly selected households received a postcard with a link to an online Rent Study survey. The postcard offered information in both English and Spanish.
  • Rent Study communication also includes:
    • An email and/or SMS text message containing a link to the online survey sent to all households in the survey sample that had an associated email address or cell phone number.
    • The full survey in English sent by U.S. Mail to a random subset of 20,000 of the original 25,000 households.

The survey will conclude in December 2026, with the goal of obtaining a statistically valid and reliable estimate of relevant Fair Market Rents; this data will be shared with HUD in order to help ensure that 2027 FMRs are in line with actual rents in our marketplace.