PROMOTING AFFORDABLE HOUSING

VIA ZONING REFORM

Josh Schoemann, county executive of Washington County, Wis., 

Josh Schoemann, county executive of Washington County, Wis., is leading the charge for affordable workforce housing in his area north of Milwaukee.

“The biggest challenge is having housing the workforce can actually afford. They are costed out of our community,” he said.

“I looked up on REALTOR.com and found three houses for sale at $300,000 and below in the whole county.”

Schoemann said the skyrocketing cost of homeownership is making it hard to recruit a workforce and to keep local college graduates in the community.

“We focused on Next Generation Housing.

We identified very early on that our zoning would not let you build on a single-family lot less than 8,000 square feet and our regulatory hard and soft costs added about $80,000 per lot.

Builders tell us they can create a 1,200 square-foot home in the $250,000 range — but when you tack on all the regulatory and infrastructure costs, the price pretty quickly hits about $400,000.”

The county created a pilot project in the village of Jackson, where it funded some infrastructure and allowed smaller lots. 

The Oaks of Jackson features 105 units — mostly single family with some duplexes and quadplexes — on about 20 acres next to the village hall. 

Seventy-five percent of the units will sell at $320,000, and 25 percent will be $420,000 or below.