Local officials discuss public sector development

EAU CLAIRE — As Eau Claire County is expected to grow in the coming years, one question is how public sector development will position the community in the future.

At an Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce forum, speakers and the audience were asked what the biggest housing need in the community is. Through a quick poll, a vast majority of audience members said they believe it is starter homes, and Eau Claire Community Development Director Aaron White agreed.

“Starter homes and affordable starter homes for an opportunity for that first-time homeownership is a real challenge in the community,” White said.

“We also need senior housing. We get a lot of inquiries from folks looking for 55-and-up type housing, wanting to downsize their home but not finding a place they can move to so they’re still living in a well oversized home that they don’t need anymore. And there’s just not enough of the homes for them to transition into in a reasonable way to make it effective or reasonable to do it.”

He also spoke to the challenge of building affordable housing in the Eau Claire area.


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Leo's notes: Eau Claire-area leaders are raising an increasingly important question: when private development cannot meet community needs on its own, how active should the public sector become? The goal should not necessarily be for government to replace private developers, but to use public resources strategically enough to make needed projects feasible. Communities willing to assemble sites, finance infrastructure, reduce development risk or participate directly in projects may be better positioned to produce housing the market is otherwise failing to deliver.