look like. >> This coming weekend,
Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer tourist
season in Wisconsin. In years past, tourism hotspots
have seen difficulty hiring enough workers. Part of the
trouble with hiring has to do with employees finding a
place to live that they can afford, and these sought
after areas. This week, new workforce housing units
opened in Vilas County in Lac du Flambeau. The two and
three bedroom units are very, very welcome,
according to the chair of the Vilas County Economic
Development Corporation, Jim Tuckwell. He joins us along
with the developer, Kevin McDonnell. And thanks to
both of you for being here. >> Thanks for having us.
>> So, Jim, first to you. Why are these units so very
welcome? >> Well, as you pointed out,
Frederica, we badly need affordable housing here. Our
our population is skewed to older residents. We have a
lot of retirees in Vilas County. And conversely, the
people that are aged 20 to 34, those that would be
looking for affordable housing, most likely as
they're starting out their careers. We have much fewer,
like 8% fewer people in residents in that age group
than the state of Wisconsin. So we really badly need
units like Kevin's to attract younger people who
can join the workforce, as you pointed out.
>> So, Kevin, tell me about this new development of
apartments. They're described as workforce
housing, but also luxury, affordable, with rents
ranging I saw from about 900 to $1200 a month. What are
the units like? >> Yeah, I mean, the units
are really great. They're all townhouse style units.
Individual entries, attached garages, all of the
buildings have rooftop solar. And in terms of the
affordability and the level, we have a wide range of
residents that we're serving. So we have market
rate units, which we have actually a tremendous demand
for a huge waiting list. Right now, we have on the
other end of the spectrum, something called 811 housing
voucher units that are for folks that have some type of
disability, physical, mental, emotional. There's a
number of different types of disabilities that can
qualify for those units, but those units are set aside
for individuals with very low incomes, 30% or less
than the county median income. And then we have
about 27 out of the 40 units are what we call kind of
more traditional workforce housing units set aside for
50 to 60% of the Vilas County median income.
>> Why did you decide to break ground in Lac du
Flambeau? >> So originally when we
started, it was kind of the beginnings of Covid. The
work from home kind of movement was starting, and
we saw a lot of people moving into areas like Vilas
County and thought there'd be some of that trend would
continue. When we got into Vilas County and started
working with Jim and the county and the local tribal
members, we realized kind of how much of a need there was
for the local tribal members as well. So it was kind of
originally Moore with kind of tourism kind of economy
in mind, with the kind of work from home thought. And
then just the need in the area for the local tribal
members is tremendous as well.
>> Interesting. So, Jim, how will 40 new two and three
bedroom townhomes help the affordable housing crunch in
your county? >> Well, the key here is
that this this development serves not only Lac du
Flambeau but also the surrounding communities. So
people typically commute, you know, anywhere from 10
to 30 miles for work. And so this is going to serve a
wide range of the surrounding communities.
>> Jim, you've described that some people can't take
jobs that are offered to them in your region because
they can't find the housing. What are employers saying to
you about that issue? >> Oh, we hear this and have
been hearing it for a while from employers that in some
cases they've offered and had jobs accepted. And then
the individuals can't find an affordable place to live
and have to turn the job down. And others just aren't
even applying for the jobs just because, again, they
can't find a place to live in advance. So it's a very
key issue. And this this serves a very, very
significant need for us. >> How rewarding is it for
you to build these affordable units for folks?
>> It's really, really rewarding. I mean, going to
a grand opening or an open house where we get to see
residents come in and like the smiles on their faces is
priceless. quality, very well done and
very impressive. So it's a it's a phenomenal
development. >> Great. We'll leave it
there, Jim. Tuckwell and Kevin McDonell, thank you so