RIVER FALLS – Pierce County residents and homebuilders can now use a unique “housing toolkit” designed to make it easier to buy and build homes in the county.

Through a joint effort of Pierce County Economic Development Corporation (PCEDC), Momentum West and Dunn County, a four-part housing toolkit is now available on the PCEDC www.pcedc.com and Momentum West www.momentumwest.org websites. This toolkit has a section for aspiring homeowners, resources for communities, tools for developers and links to housing studies conducted in the region. 

The Aspiring Homeowner section has financing basics, credit, and links to local resources. The financing basics for the aspiring homeowner covers topics such as “What’s Your Credit Score, How Much Can I Borrow?, Debt to Income Ratio, Home Mortgage Types and Realtor Tips.” The local resources toolkit provides links to local lenders, and county resources such as local building codes, zoning maps contacts, local builders/realtors and sample home plans.

The Community section provides brief list of resources, key partners, programs, and policy alternatives that may be considered by the residents, communities, developers, and other partner organizations of the Momentum West Region to address housing needs and meet local housing-related goals. It is intended to foster local creativity and partnership opportunities in addressing local housing needs.

The Developer section is designed to assist developers in intensifying development opportunities and tools for financing the development of infrastructure.

Housing studies conducted in the region are included as the fourth component to assist communities, community members, government officials, and developers in understanding the needs, challenges, and opportunities in the local housing market.

“It is difficult for aspiring homeowners, developers, and communities to know the full array of tools and resources available to them that will enable them to meet their homeowner and housing goals and aspirations. This tool kit is designed to be one step in realizing those housing dreams,” said PCEDC Executive Director Joe Folsom.

This initiative grew out of feedback from a 2023 Dunn County housing workgroup.

“People who wanted to buy property or wanted to build a home were running into hurdles with permits and understanding that process,” said Anne Wodarczyk, Dunn County Zoning Administrator. “The toolkit is intended to help buyers and developers have a better understanding of everything that goes into housing development.”

“We took a look at, how do we simplify this?” said Steve Jahn, Momentum West Executive Director, and a housing workgroup member. “We mapped out information that a developer and information that a private party would need if they wanted to create a development or build a house in Dunn or Pierce County. Currently only the Pierce and Dunn County toolkits are populated with the localized sections for the remaining eight counties in the Momentum West region in process,” he added.

Submitted by Pierce County EDC