In December 2018, following a contentious debate, Kent County's Board of
Commissioners-the legislative arm of the western Michigan county that
includes Grand Rapids-narrowly voted to dissolve the Kent County Land
Bank (KCLB), a local governmental agency that had operated in the region
since 2009.' The Board's decision came down to one core concern: mission
creep. While agreeing that the KCLB had successfully targeted and rehabilitated
distressed properties over the prior decade, a majority of the Board
believed that the entity-which had recently rebranded itself as "Innova-
LaB" and announced a shift into modular housing construction across
Michigan-had strayed from its original purpose.2 Detractors argued that
the KCLB was now competing with the private construction market during
a boom economy, a role that it had no business playing. Supporters of
the KCLB saw its foray into state-wide modular housing construction as a
commendable effort to address housing affordability in Michigan.
