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Although the word 'small' may be in the title, the accolades the County continues to garner for its Small-Footprint Home Development Concept is anything but modest. The Ottawa County Department of Strategic (DSI) and project partners were honored on Nov. 6, 2026 with a Coalition of the Year award from the Home Builders Association of Michigan (HBAM).
Special Projects Coordinator Joe Pierce, Communications Specialist Rich Lakeberg and project collaborator Nick Rolinski were present to accept the Coalition of the Year Award at the Leadership in Housing Advocacy Awards event at Lansing Community College's West Campus.
The Small-Footprint Home Development Concept is a multi-year project which created a series 16 of publicly available homes designs ranging from 440 square feet to 1,056 square feet to help jumpstart the construction of attainable housing in Ottawa County. The designs are available to download at miottawa.org/small-footprint.
"The Coalition of the Year Award is about recognizing solutions that work," said 2026 Awards Committee Chair and incoming HBAM President Mike Tucker. "Ottawa County is doing a fantastic job with its Small-Footprint Home Development Concept. We want to highlight that and encourage other communities to replicate it."
Ariana Dawes, Legislative Aide for the HBA, elaborated, saying there were quite a few projects competing for Coalition of the Year. "The nominations go through a selection committee which judges entries based off of a rubric, looking at things like community impact, longevity, sustainability, advocacy - things that are repeatable, that other communities can adapt to advance attainable housing," said Dawes.
Now in its second year, the Leadership in Housing Advocacy Awards highlights the individuals and organizations across Michigan whose dedication to housing advocacy is making a positive difference in their communities.
The project was nominated for the award by Lakeshore Home Builders Association CEO Brittany Ryzenga, who recognized the impact and uniqueness of the project.
"Attainable housing continues to be a critical need in our communities," said Ryzenga. "We applaud Ottawa County Department for Strategic Impact for recognizing the importance of creating more housing options and taking an innovative, proactive approach to removing barriers that have made smaller, more affordable homes difficult to build."
The creation of these plans was truly a team effort. The design process was guided by Holland-based design consultant Nick Rolinski and local real estate and construction experts. The designs themselves were developed in detail by Hope College civil engineering student and DSI intern Matt Daub. Supporting the duo through all iterations included DSI, and more than two dozen local partners representing an array of disciplines and sectors.
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