DISTRICT
Ann Arbor City Council Ward 5
PHONE
734-765-0174
WEBSITE
a2jenn.com
Campaign Phone
7347650174
Number of years as resident
9
While I have worked in Ann Arbor for the last 20 years, including owning two separate businesses here previously and operating another currently, I couldn’t afford to live in the city until 2017. I understand the impact of not being able to afford to live where you work, and the toll that takes on families, both financially and emotionally. My lived experience directly impacts my views on housing, and how gentle density in our existing neighborhoods (like the duplexes and small multi-family dwellings prevalent in Ward 5) truly creates community. Access to schools, parks, and our award-winning library systems all positively impacted my family when we became part of Ann Arbor, and I’m committed to enabling that experience for others.
My goals are to make Ann Arbor more affordable while improving roads and infrastructure, advancing our climate goals, and ensuring residents receive excellent city services every day. My background in business gives me a unique perspective rooted in pragmatism. Ideas without policy and budget to back them are not promises that anyone seeking office should promote. I understand that every decision must be based in reality with measurable outcomes to determine the return on our investment.
Housing affordability remains Ann Arbor’s most serious problem, and is personal to me. Too many people who work in our community struggle to live here. I will continue to support expanding housing options near transit and employment centers, because failing to address this housing crisis perpetuates environmental harms and puts a strain on city resources.
My leadership in the environmental space allows me to drive our A2Zero goals forward and preserve our green spaces as we do this critical work. We cannot lose what makes Ann Arbor “Tree City USA” in pursuit of our values towards housing, nor can we ignore that the opposite of density is sprawl that kills our trees and farmlands.
We must use all of the tools at our disposal to address Ann Arbor’s housing shortage. Encouraging market-rate housing helps to build more units, create supply, expand our tax base, and pay for public housing, which is critical to providing access to those who could not otherwise afford to live here. But our work can’t stop there - we must encourage public-private partnerships to support mixed-income, artist, and other missing middle types of housing, like duplexes and triplexes, that have been made illegal despite their longstanding inclusion in our neighborhoods. Only by enabling more units can we turn the tide and make housing in Ann Arbor more accessible and attainable for all who wish to live here.
As your Councilmember, I have and will continue to be accessible via email, in the community, and with listening hours alongside my colleague and fellow Ward 5 Councilmember Erica Briggs. Please reach out to talk about the issues impacting our city and share your concerns and feedback.
