Rep. Warren Petryk

Here in the Chippewa Valley, we are not immune to the housing challenges seen across our state. In River Falls a study found that the area would be short hundreds of new homes to keep up with the expected population demand. Also, a recent study by the cities of Eau Claire and Altoona revealed a prevailing sentiment: there are too few single-family homes available to buy or rent, and that the pace of building was not keeping up. Since 2011, our state has built fewer than 10,000 single-family homes than it did in the preceding decade.

This lack of affordable and appealing housing is also making it more difficult for our employers to encourage needed workforce talent to come and work in our amazing region and state. And those who are working are frustrated that the increased costs are pricing them out of moving to their dream home for their family. That is my I voted to pass a bipartisan package of bills this session aimed at bolstering the workforce housing supply in the state. Led by local Representatives Dave Armstrong, Karen Hurd, Rob Summerfield, and Clint Moses, we successfully passed and got signed into law five bills to address this growing issue.

One of these bills will help reduce the cost of building a home by creating a residential housing infrastructure revolving loan program to help defray housing costs. These loans specifically target the cost of housing infrastructure such as water, sewer, and electric, which drive up the costs before a home is even built. In addition, the loans aim to make local governments reduce costs by looking at various regulatory reforms and costs of certain permits. The bill also incentivizes developers to build more senior housing, which is going to be needed in the future as our area experiences a dramatic increase in the aging population living longer.

Another bill that became law will provide no-interest loans to owners of rental housing units to rehabilitate buildings to provide upper-floor housing in downtown areas. Throughout many communities in the 93^rd Assembly District, “Main Street” commercial business have vacant second and third story spaces. This bill will help assist in the renovation of these upper-floor spaces to help provide an option for affordable housing for our workers and their families.

Innovative ideas like these will help address our housing shortage and enable Wisconsin businesses and local communities to attract and retain the workforce we need. I’m proud that these bills became law and look forward to more creative and affordable solutions from Legislative Republicans in the future.