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families and students will
suffer.

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>> Beth Swedeen, thanks
very much.

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>> Everyone knows how
expensive it is to buy a

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house these days. In
Wisconsin, home prices have

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risen much faster than
incomes, according to the

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Wisconsin Policy Forum.
That freezes out renters

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from creating generational
wealth through

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homeownership. But there
are innovative ideas to get

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people into their own homes,
like land trusts, where the

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buyer gets a mortgage for
the home only and then

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leases the land under it
from a nonprofit. The

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result? Affordable home
ownership, a new community

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land trust program is
taking shape in green Bay.

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Its mayor, Eric Genrich,
joins us with more. And

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mayor, thanks a lot for
having me.

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programs in other parts of
the state. What made you

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interested in this idea?
>> Well, as you said, yes,

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we're certainly not the
first ones to adopt a

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community land trust here
in green Bay. I believe

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area, southeast Wisconsin.
La Crosse I believe area

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has one as well. And it's
really a movement that's

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that's grown pretty
significantly over the last

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few years. You know, you
did a great job of kind of

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giving an overview of that
concept and why it's so

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appealing to us is, is the
idea that we will be able

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to set aside a certain
number of homes that will

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remain relatively
affordable forever? There's

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a number of strategies that
we deploy currently within

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the city of green Bay and
that are common, I think,

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across the country. But
oftentimes those periods of

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affordability are limited
to, you know, 15 years or a

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couple decades or something
like that with the with the

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Community Land Trust model,
because the rate of

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appreciation is managed a
bit and regulated a bit for

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for those who own these
homes, these homes will,

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especially in the long term,
be a lot more affordable

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when you compare them to to
other homes that are

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available on the private
market.

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>> Yeah, this wouldn't be
city or public housing,

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right? How would it work?
>> Correct. Yeah. No,

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clarifying question. Yeah.
We've partnered with

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Neighborworks green Bay,
which is a local housing

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nonprofit. But they're a
they're a local affiliate

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of a nationwide
organization, Neighborworks

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America. And so they have a
lot of access to expertise

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around the country with
fellow affiliates who have

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gone down this, this path
of community land trust.

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And so it's a great
partnership that's already

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been established. But I
humanity was a was a really

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instrumental part of this
brainstorming process. You

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know, they're going to have
representation on this

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nonprofits, the Chamber of
Commerce was really

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instrumental as well. When
we were figuring out

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exactly how we would
structure this. And so a

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lot of folks have been
involved, and we're looking

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for even more to continue
to be involved in the

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future, because this is not
something that that only

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can be supported by the
city government. It's

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really going to require
and generous individual

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donors, foundations and
things to to make sure that

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this gets to the stage or
to the level that really

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has an impact on housing
affordability.

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community, how out of reach
is home ownership for most

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people?
>> You know, relatively

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speaking, homeownership is
is easier to attain here in

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green Bay than it is in
many other parts of the

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on one of these lists where
it said green Bay was the

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number one place for people
on Social Security to to to

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live. So relatively
speaking, you know, we're

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we're affordable. But in
comparison to our history,

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not at all the case. You
know, we've seen home

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prices in the city of green
Bay go up, you know, double

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digit percentage points
pretty much every year over

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the last five years. So
homeownership is out of

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reach, unfortunately for
far too many people. And

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we're in the position of
really, you know, taking in

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all of the above approach
to housing affordability

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here in the city of green
Bay. We recognize that not

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one single solution is
going to get us to that

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point. But community Land
trust, we feel, is

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definitely a tool that
hasn't been utilized in the

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past and needs to be part
of the equation in the

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future.
If someone buys a house

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through the Community Land
Trust first, how affordable

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might it be to get in? And
then can they sell it at a

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profit?
>> Right? Yes. So, you know,

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it is expensive just to
construct a home these days.

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So so some of those costs
are kind of built in the

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way that we're going to be
able to bring down the cost

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of construction is really
through private

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philanthropy, as I was
suggesting. So it's going

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to be important for, for
donors to step up to, to

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bring that initial cost
down to a level

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affordability for low and
moderate income folks going

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forward. Once we, you know,
construct the home, find

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the family, set up a
situation where they're

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able to to purchase this
home, they would be able to

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realize a percentage of
increase in value over the

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years. So I think the the
formula that's been arrived

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on is 2% a year. So
certainly, you know, these

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families are going to be
able to to pull out some of

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that equity if they were to
decide to sell the home

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down the line. But it's not
going to be to the extent

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that we've seen in the
really where these homes

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become even more affordable
ten, 20, 30 years down the

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line.
>> In your city's model,

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the plan is to provide
wraparound services. What

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do those look like?
>> You know, a lot of those,

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I think are going to be
determined in the future.

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But I was, you know,
referencing the fact that

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we were working closely
with Neighborworks green

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Bay. They're the really the
housing agency in town and,

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and are going to be the
ones who are operating the,

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the land trust. And so, you
know, they're really well

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training. You know,
anti-eviction training that

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they've been been doing for
decades here. And so

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they're really going to be
the entity that that are

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going to figure out exactly
going to be necessary for

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these homeowners, but
they're really well placed

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to do that.
>> What kind of stability

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for a community? Do owner
occupied homes create?

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>> Yeah, I mean, they're so
essential here in in green

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Bay. We have a great system
of of neighborhoods. We

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just celebrated the 50th
neighborhood association to

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be established within the
city of green Bay. I think

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historically, homeowners
have have played, you know,

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more of an instrumental
role in some of those

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organizations. But we
residents play and

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absolutely encourage people
who are, you know, in the

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rental housing environment,
in condos and homes to to

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step up and take some
ownership of their

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neighborhoods. But
homeownership is is still

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really a dream for many
people. And it's it's a

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great way, you know, to to
set aside some, some wealth

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for yourselves and for your
families down the line in

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the land trust model. It's
like I was explaining

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earlier, it's, you know,
it's kind of modestly

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controlled, but it's still
a great way, as I said, to

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to develop a nest egg for
yourselves and for for your

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children and grandchildren.
that we want to encourage.

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>> We'll be watching this
>> We'll be watching this