According to the Michigan Roadmap to Rural Prosperity, a 71-page report that details challenges that rural communities across Michigan face, the biggest challenges facing the rural community over the next 10 years are: increasing housing opportunities, attracting a larger working-age population, changes to the cost of living, managing population growth and development, and retaining workforce. 

Rachel Richards of the Michigan League for Public Policy argues, “With federal support returning to its pre-pandemic levels, we will now be more dependent on our own state resources to ensure Michiganders have what they need to not only survive, but thrive. And while Michigan’s economy is currently stable, with revenues coming in as expected, it’s not enough to prevent us from returning to the decades of disinvestment in Michigan workers, families and children that we saw prior to the pandemic.”