City Of Eau Claire To Spend $700K To Spur Low-Income Housing Development

The Eau Claire City Council will spend $700,000 to spur developers to build low-income homes and apartment buildings next year.

Council members already planned on devoting $200,000 to the development of single-family homes but after passionate testimony from community members, the council amended the resolution to add $500,000 more for multi-family apartment buildings.

Councilwoman Kate Beaton told WPR it’s the largest investment in affordable housing in Eau Claire’s history.

“We want to be setting the stage to make it easier and cheaper for private developers to be developing more housing at many incomes, in particular at a lower income,” said Beaton.

She said Eau Claire has been growing which has made it harder to find affordable apartments or homes catered to first-time buyers.

“We’re seeing that the housing stock is actually really low across all income levels, which is bringing housing rates up across the board,” she said.

Though the city council approved a resolution earmarking the money for affordable housing initiatives, there aren’t any specific plans for how to do that yet. Beaton said some ideas that have been discussed include buying property for low-income housing, creating a revolving loan fund for developers or using the money to pay fees incurred by companies building homes and apartments.

Two city council members, David Klinkhammer and Emily Berge, voiced reservations at a meeting last Tuesday about making money available before plans are drawn up.

“If we are going to make this dramatic a change I guess I would like more thought going into it and more assurance that the efforts that are being made will have the affect we desire,” Klinkhammer said.

According to the Eau Claire County Housing Authority, there are 275 households on waiting lists for low-income rentals.

According to 2016 data from the United Way’s Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) report on poverty, 28 percent of households in Eau Claire County are making less than the basic cost of living in the county.

In an interview with WPR, Eau Claire councilman Andrew Werthmann said increasing affordable housing stock is vital as the city draws new residents.

“We have a growing community but at the same time we have stagnant wages in our community,” said Werthmann. “We’re not seeing much of a difference in the last 15 years with the minimum wage.”

Werthmann said he envisioned the single-family homes being between 1,000 and 1,200 square feet and likely costing between $140,000 and $160,000. He said the city council will be working on specific housing plans to ensure the $700,000 set aside will have the greatest impact.