Lyczynski hired as St. Joseph County Housing Coordinator

Centreville, MI – The St. Joseph County Human Services Commission is pleased to announce the hiring of Clayton Lyczynski II of Three Rivers, Michigan to the newly created position of St. Joseph County Housing Coordinator.

Lyczynski will be responsible for coordinating efforts to move the work of the St. Joseph County Housing Plan forward. The multi-pronged housing plan developed by the Southcentral Michigan Planning Council in 2021, focuses on three goals:

• Maintaining a diversity of housing options for all residents of St. Joseph County.
• Increasing available housing in the county for those who need options with less maintenance.
• Collaboration to better promote the county’s amenities to potential residents.

Lyczynski brings a wealth of personal, educational, professional, and governmental experience to this position. He has lived in a variety of housing types within cities, townships, and villages throughout St. Joseph County over the past 40+ years; and has been a home owner in the city of Three Rivers for the last 20 years. Lyczynski attended White Pigeon and Three Rivers High Schools, Sturgis Public Schools CTE Program, and Glen Oaks Community College where he received an Associates of Applied Science Technology with a Certificate in Computer Aided Drafting and Design. He has spent his career working in the real estate and insurance industries, as well as developing his leadership and communication skills while managing and leading multiple organizations.

“I was raised in St. Joseph County, went to school here, raised a family here, and God-willing, I will help raise my grandchildren here. I want to do whatever I can to make our community a place people want to bring their business, visit, raise their families, and grow old.”

Over the last 5 years, Lyczynski has been actively serving our community as a Chamber Ambassador (current Ambassador of the Year), Master Planning Committee Member (City of Three Rivers, which included a housing plan like the St. Joseph County Housing Plan), City Commissioner, Commission on Aging Board member, and private consultant for housing development plans.

Kathy Olsen, Chair of the Human Services Commission, stated, “We are excited to have Clayton on board. With Clayton’s passion and existing community relationships, he will be instrumental in ‘connecting the dots’ to help move projects forward.”

The path to creating the St. Joseph County Housing Coordinator position has been long. At a housing forum of St. Joseph County community leaders in 2019, it was agreed a housing plan was needed to guide the future investments and efforts that are required to sustain the health of St. Joseph County’s housing ecosystem. Funds were raised to develop this plan and focus groups were held in 2019 and 2020.

The St. Joseph County Housing Plan was presented to the community in 2021 by the Southcentral Michigan Planning Council. Although a local committee was established to move the work of the housing plan forward, it soon became apparent a full-time coordinator was needed for it to advance. In November of 2022, the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners responded to the Human Services Commission’s grant request with an award of ARPA dollars to fund a coordinator for two years.

More information regarding the St. Joseph County Housing Plan can be found on the St. Joseph County Human Services Commission website: https://sjchumanservices.com/housing-plan/.

Click HERE to view Clayton’s monthly housing coordinator reports.