Workforce Housing

Earlier this week, the Assembly Housing and Real Estate Committee that I serve on held a public hearing on several bills that will expand access to workforce housing.

We are currently experiencing a significant labor shortage in our state and one of the factors causing this is a lack of affordable housing. We are especially seeing that in our area.

The two types of housing that are among the shortest in supply in Door County are seasonal housing and year-round workforce housing for employees earning 60 to 120 percent of the county's median income. This is particularly troubling since Door County relies so much on tourism and seasonal workers.

Just across the border, Kewaunee County is also having its own housing issues. 

According to a recent study, nearly 90 percent of the county's roughly 9,400 housing units are occupied. For its size, the county also has a very low number of rental and senior units.

I believe that many of the legislative proposals we heard this week will help us make progress in increasing the amount of affordable housing in our state. That is why I signed on as a co-sponsor to most of the bills, including:

• AB 607: relating to a workforce housing rehabilitation loan program
• AB 603: relating to a shovel-ready workforce housing development site program
• AB 609: relating to local housing investment fund programs
• AB 610: relating to prohibiting certain property tax assessment practices
• AB 606: relating to creating a sales tax exemption for materials used to construct workforce housing developments or to conduct workforce housing rehabilitation projects
  
  You can watch the public hearing by clicking here.

Water Infrastructure Projects

I recently introduced a bill with Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, that provides $5.6 million in Knowles-Nelson Stewardship funds to complete necessary health and safety water infrastructure upgrades at our state parks, including a couple right here in our area.

The funding will come in the form of authorized but unused stewardship bonding from the most recent fiscal year.

Specifically in Door County, Potawatomi State Park and Newport State Park will receive a portion of the $5.6 million to install new water lines that will service their campgrounds, day-use areas, headquarters, shops and shower facilities. 

Potawatomi will also be getting some of the funding to construct new wells throughout the park. 

In previous sessions, I authored similar legislation that benefited our local state parks. In last session's bill, we were able to allocate enough funds to replace the large toilet and shower facility at the Tennison Bay Campground at Peninsula State Park.

Our state parks, which were visited 20 million times in 2020, are a vital part of our tourism economy. Clean water helps to ensure that our visitors have a positive experience and that their health is being protected.

Air Quality Report

The air quality in our state continues to improve.

According to a newly released 2021 Air Quality Trends report, concentrations of monitored pollutants are decreasing throughout Wisconsin, with the majority of our state meeting all federal air quality standards.

Although our region is seeing a reduction in ozone values, we are still included in the nine Lake Michigan shoreline counties that are not currently meeting national standards. That is because we are located downwind from several large urban areas, including Milwaukee and Chicago.

The Wisconsin DNR attributes the overall pollutant concentration decrease to the implementation of a variety of federal and state pollution control programs. The largest reductions are a direct result of more efficient fuel combustion from highway vehicles and electric utilities.

You can find the full report and a breakdown of each county by clicking here.