The housing shortage continues to afflict the nation, including in the greater northwest Wisconsin area.
In addition to a low inventory of homes in general, the Twin Ports have experienced a jump in home prices — in part due to the region’s growing reputation as a climate change haven that attracts remote workers from across the country who bring big city salaries with them.
“Over the last just four years, we’ve seen rents increase 30 percent,” said Superior City Councilor Jenny Van Sickle. “We need to focus on redeveloping and renovating potential residential units, working with building owners who are interested in doing that.”
Stay informed on the latest news
Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter.
One innovative idea offered last year by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority is a low-interest loan program to help owners transform the second stories of buildings with ground-floor storefronts into residences. The program has been limited to towns under 10,000 population, but the city of Superior has been offering similar initiatives and is looking at expanding them.
Van Sickle and Superior Planning Commission member Brian Finstad spoke with WPR’s Robin Washington on “Morning Edition” about those initiatives.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Robin Washington: We previously discussed the second story idea on “Morning Edition” with state Sen. Romaine Quinn. It got me looking up at the second stories of buildings in Superior. What types of development are you considering?
Jenny Van Sickle: We’re trying to understand exactly what the barriers are for residential development in addition to cost and code issues. Our most recent housing study shows we need more than 1,000 apartment units.
RW: What’s the potential for redevelopment?
Brian Finstad: We have some buildings that have had a mom-and-pop-shop where the owners lived upstairs, and then there are other buildings like the Old City Hall that have many floors. We have buildings that are partially occupied but the upper floors are vacant, and some that are completely vacant. So it’s a real mix.
RW: What incentives would you be offering developers or building owners?
JVS: Local governments have a few tools. We have tax improvement district benefits we can offer and incentives for new construction. We’re also talking with the Planning Commission about other tools, such as rezoning, that could potentially separate the upper floors from the business floor.
We’re looking to overlap those with state programs such as from Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority and maximize those benefits. We’ve had some successes, such as with the Empire Block.
BF: That’s a large building downtown that Mark Hubbard, who had retired from Lakehead Construction, took on as his personal legacy project. On the first floor is Empire Coffee, Leslie’s Floral and Nicolet Law. Then there are two residential stories above that. It was done using historic tax incentives.
JVS: We shifted the paradigm of how we treat vacant or deteriorating buildings from demolition to renovation and preserving those properties. We hired a full time housing coordinator (Jeff Skrenes) who I would recommend folks call if they’re interested in participating in the programs.
BF: He also administers a program that instead of demolishing houses we sometimes make them available for as little as nothing.
If you have an idea about something in northern Wisconsin you think we should talk about on “Morning Edition,” send it to us at northern@wpr.org.
