Building Neighborhoods and Belonging Through Homes: Meet Jenifer Acosta
Watch Episode 32 of
The Max Loves Midland Show
Out this Wednesday 02/25/26!
Jenifer Acosta, In Her Own Words:
“I’m Jenifer Acosta, and I’m a real estate developer and housing strategist. I’m the lead consultant for Housing Forward, a community-based initiative working to implement solutions and develop and rehabilitate housing throughout Midland County and the surrounding region. Housing Forward is supported by local partners and lives under the umbrella of the Midland Business Alliance, and my day-to-day work is a mix of market data, hands-on technical assistance, relationship building, and a lot of conversations that start with, “Okay, what’s the barrier here, and how do we get around it?”
Before any of that, I was a local kid. I was born here and graduated from Garber High School in Bay City, but I’ve lived all over the region. Eventually, I moved to Miami for graduate school. My dad has lived down there since I was 15, and that’s where I met my husband. We still visit often, but when we started thinking about raising kids, we knew we wanted to raise them here. The Midwest felt like the place where we could build a grounded life.
Our own family life is full of activity and love. My son is a goalie, so it’s hockey all the time, and my daughter is active in poms, so we’re constantly on the road. We’ve happily settled into our home on the north side of the City of Midland.
My path into this work wasn’t linear. I started college with my eyes on pre-med and chemistry because I always wanted to make an impact and do good. Then I took a sociology class and everything clicked. I fell in love with the idea of studying community as a living system, a body at large, and understanding why people thrive in some conditions and struggle in others. After obtaining my master’s degree, I worked for an affordable housing developer in Miami, and I absolutely fell in love with real estate development because it blended everything I cared about. It wasn’t just housing units, it was housing paired with the supports people need, after-school care, services, program space, the things that help families stabilize and build a life that is not always in survival mode. Housing is part of life’s story, including how we age in place, maintain dignity, and stay connected to others rather than become isolated.
In 2015, I started my own company, and this is year 11. Today, most of my time is spent on the Housing Forward initiative. We also conduct the Regional Housing Partnership across an eight-county area because the state assigned our region a contract tied to statewide housing goals. The state sets strategies, but every region is different, so our job is to adopt an action plan that fits our local reality. We updated our regional action plan in September based on last year’s housing study, and while that is a meaningful part of my work, the bulk of my focus remains on Midland County.
Housing Forward, at its best, is behind the scenes. It’s confidential problem-solving with builders, developers, emerging investors, lenders, and stakeholders who are trying to make a project work. I love coming alongside a team and saying, “Let’s figure this out. Let’s get the market data. Let’s understand the risk. Let’s identify the barriers. Let’s build a path that makes someone feel supported enough to take the leap, because development is risky and we cannot pretend it isn’t.”
A lot of what we’re addressing is specific to our region. We are in a Rust Belt reality, and there’s sometimes a culture of scarcity here. A fear that more housing means home values go down, or a fear that the floor could drop out because we’ve lived through economic shifts tied to manufacturing and corporate uncertainty. Midland isn’t immune to that. But the truth is, housing is infrastructure. If we want economic development, if we want to attract and keep employers and talent, we need homes. I can think of a specific example where we lost an opportunity because a company was ready to invest hundreds of millions of dollars and bring jobs, only to look at our housing starts and realize we didn’t have the housing to support them. Housing is not a side conversation. It is central.
At the same time, housing is personal. Our neighborhoods haven’t changed much since 1975, but our residents have. Our population is aging. People need single-story options and universal design to age in place. People are staying in their homes longer, not just because of interest rates, but because there is less choice. If you cannot move within your neighborhood throughout your life, if you have to leave your community to find the right kind of home, something is broken. I’ve lived it. I reflect on my mother moving into a local condo, and her neighbors became her safety net. When she was sick, they helped take care of her car, her dog, brought items to the hospital, and relieved my burden in a way I will never forget. That’s housing, too. It’s not just walls. It’s the way life holds you.
When people ask what their role is in this ecosystem, I tell them it can be what they want it to be. Speak up when there’s a master plan. Say what you love about your neighborhood. Say what you wish it had. Say what it lacks. Are we designing a community worth slowing down for? Safety and walkability matter. Connectivity matters. People want shorter commutes, good schools, proximity to nature, trees, and homes they can afford to maintain. They want a home that helps them build stability and generational wealth, not a financial cliff waiting to happen.
Recently, we created the Developer Collective in Midland. It started as a monthly learning and networking space for emerging developers and investors, people asking: Should I buy a duplex and rent half? Should I try being a landlord? How do I do this responsibly? What do I need to know? We bring together realtors, property managers, home builders, and local investors. We showcase people who have been doing this work in Midland for a long time. The goal is simple. Locals should own the community. We will always have rentals, but who owns them, how they are maintained, and whether the wealth stays local matter.
When I look forward, my hopes for Midland are clear. I want more neighborhood diversity. I want us to sprinkle housing across different price points so people can truly live in any neighborhood they want, regardless of age or economic status. I want a community where a young family can start, where a mid-career professional can stay, where an older adult can downsize without leaving their familiar place, and where neighbors can keep showing up for each other. If we do that, we do more than build housing. We build belonging, stability, and opportunity, and that is the kind of Midland I want my kids to grow up in.”
Do you have a Midland County story you would like to tell that aligns with our vision?