Browsing: Out of reach: Wisconsin’s housing crisis and hope for the American Dream

The dire need for more houses in America has even regulation heavy cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Minneapolis and St. Paul streamlining rules — and providing a playbook for Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Assembly voted largely along party lines this week in support of a crucial housing bill, AB453, that will rein in NIMBYism — the “not in my back yard” outcry that greets developers trying to increase housing supply in communities where elected officials want the same thing.

“The ideal situation is to have an alignment of the comprehensive plan and the zoning code to provide as many certainties as possible.”

How big a factor are regulatory costs? According to one study, the cost of regulation would be $95,000 on a $400,000 home.

Rent control policies result in a lower stock of available housing, a lower quality of available housing, increased rents for properties that are not controlled, and spillover effects that harm those in the surrounding community.

According to one housing developer, cooperation with the city is a way for both parties to leave Manitowoc a better place.

Cities could ease the squeeze of low housing supply by allowing more market-driven urban infill, say scholars at the American Enterprise Institute.

Allowing more home construction on smaller lots in Wisconsin would substantially drive down prices, according to a new analysis by scholars at the American Enterprise Institute.

Unlike many places in Wisconsin, there is no housing crisis in the Village of Hobart because its leaders have done something developers say is exceedingly rare — making it as easy and predictable as possible for them to do business there.

Those who staff emergency medical services in Door County, WI can’t easily afford to live there… and there’s little sign that things are soon to get better.

Wisconsin residents report the increasing strain of trying to afford a home. These experiences are borne out by market data showing more Wisconsin residents priced out of homeownership.

First in a series on housing in the Badger State, Out of reach: Wisconsin’s housing crisis and hope for the…

Vice President Kamala Harris’ new housing down payment assistance proposal, which would give $25,000 to qualifying first-time home buyers, would dramatically increase housing prices, particularly in Midwestern metro areas such as Milwaukee, according to a new study by scholars at the American Enterprise Institute.

“There are communities that have decided they just don’t want to grow,” said Chad Lawler, who heads the Madison Area Builders Association.

Wisconsin will need to build 200,000 housing units by 2030 to accommodate all the people who want to live and work here. Sheboygan County is a microcosm of the problem — but on the forefront of a possible solution.