Why is affordable housing so difficult?

Why is affordable housing so difficult?

Affordable housing is an issue we hear about frequently — not just in Eagle River, but across Wisconsin and the country. Employers need workers, families need places to live, and many people who work in our community find that the cost of housing can be difficult to manage.

So a reasonable question is: What is the city doing about affordable housing?

The answer is more complicated than it may seem.

The City of Eagle River previously had an Affordable Housing Committee that spent considerable time discussing workforce and affordable housing. The committee ultimately stopped meeting about a year or so ago because, despite the interest and effort, we could not identify a workable solution that would make new affordable housing financially feasible given the current cost of construction....

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Leo’s notes: We must shift the conversation from funding individual affordable housing projects to addressing the underlying economics that make modest, workforce-oriented housing difficult to build.