Republicans: Address affordable housing delays citing ‘not in my backyard’ movement

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The Assembly’s bipartisan Committee on Housing and Real Estate held a hearing Thursday to discuss seven bills related to affordable housing, including a proposed bill to overhaul local governments’ power to impose a supermajority for zoning amendments and require them to approve permits aligned with local standards.

“Housing that families, seniors and workers can afford is virtually nonexistent in Wisconsin due to a myriad of factors. Wisconsin’s housing crises poses an existential threat to the state’s ability to attract and retain workers, students, businesses and families. The bills in this proposal seek to address the state’s housing crisis and make the dream of homeownership a reality for innumerable Wisconsinites,” Republicans said in their co-sponsorship memos for at least five of the bills.

Assembly Bill 266, introduced by Wisconsin State Rep. Scott Krug (R – Nekoosa), will create more “certainty and predictability” in the approval process for developments before local governments and will limit the ability of “NIMBYs” or “Not in My Backyard” to delay or terminate the approval process for housing development, according to a joint statement from a group of state Representatives and Senators, including Rep. Robert Brooks (R – Saukville) and Sen. Romaine Quinn (R – Cameron).

The bill will limit small governments from imposing a supermajority requirement for zoning ordinances to be amended and a requirement for municipalities to approve some permit applications for residential housing development that aligns with local requirements, according to the bill text.

The bill deals with a “social phenomenon,” where communities were surveyed on their thoughts for housing standards and mixed-use development, Krug said at the meeting. Krug explained that nearly 85% communities would say yes but then turn down developers who wanted to build in their neighborhood. “They say ope, hold on. We don’t need it that bad,” he noted.

Several bills, AB-264, AB-265, AB-268 and AB-267, all concern revolving loan funds, loan programs and Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority housing rehabilitation loans.

AB-265, proposed by Rep. Rob Summerfield (R – Bloomer), will establish a main street housing rehabilitation revolving loan fund under the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) according to the proposed measure’s text. WHEDA will award loans to people who own rental housing for eligible housing on upper floors of existing mixed-use commercial buildings that were built 40 years ago, haven’t improved for 30 years, are vacant or underused and constitutes “workforce housing,” according to the bill text.

Workforce housing is defined as affordable housing for people who earn between 80% and 120% of an area’s median income, according to the Urban Land Institute.

AB-039 will increase the yearly amount of money that WHEDA low-income housing tax credit program allows from $42 million to $100 million, according to the bill text.

AB-096 would allow cities, villages and some towns to create developer-financed tax increment districts (TID) outside the rule that the equalized value of taxable property of new or amended TID and the value of existing TID can’t exceed 12 percent of the equalized property value in the city or village and the requirement all areas of TID to be contiguous.

Because workforce housing is critical to the state economy, real estate association NAIOP Wisconsin pledged their support for the bill package, NAIOP Wisconsin CEO Jim Villa said in a statement.

“We know that quality workforce housing is critical to sustain and grow Wisconsin’s economy. NAIOP Wisconsin applauds Representative Robert Brooks, Senator Romaine Quinn, their legislative colleagues, and our industry partners for working collaboratively to find creative solutions to address this need. We look forward to working with the Legislature and Governor to pass these commonsense proposals to help move Wisconsin forward,” Villa added.