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matter, from sports betting
and constitute sports

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betting under Wisconsin law.
>> Anyone who has thought

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about buying or selling a
house recently knows prices

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are up, interest rates
remain higher, and more

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people seem to be locked
out of owning a home. In

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our continuing series,
looking at the biggest

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issues in the race for
governor "Here& Now",

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senior political reporter
Zac Schultz asked the

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candidates for governor
about what the state should

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do to help fix the
affordable housing crisis.

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>> A 2024 study by the
Wisconsin Policy Forum

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showed. Over a five year
stretch, home prices went

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up 53% while incomes rose
by less than 20%. State

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government can't lower the
price of materials or labor,

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but it can create an
environment making it

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easier to build new homes.
So we asked the candidates

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for governor how they plan
to address the affordable

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housing crisis in Wisconsin.
>> So the plan to increase

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affordable housing is to
ensure that we put a stop

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on corporate monopolies
that are buying up

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wholesale properties. This
is going on in Milwaukee.

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These these monopolies are
making it difficult for

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first time homeowners.
These monopolies are making

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it easy or, excuse me,
making it more difficult

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for people to be able to
afford rent because if they

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own all the properties they
can, they can price people

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out or just charge whatever
they want to charge. And

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where else are people going
to go?

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>> We need to look at it as
a three legged stool. There

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is the legislation that we
have to make sure that we

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have laws that allow us to
build affordable housing.

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rules and making sure, like,
you know, how you can build

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what type of permits that
you need. And then there's

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funding. And right now,
there is nobody who is

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looking at all three of
those things to make sure

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that they're aligned. So as
governor, I would assign

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somebody to make sure that
they are looking at housing

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overall, having a statewide
strategic plan to make sure

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that we have some of those
starter homes that we

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certainly don't have in
Wisconsin anymore.

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>> Housing is a is a vexing
problem, but it is not

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insurmountable. And what
we've seen at WEDC, the

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work that we did was to
support innovative housing,

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housing, whether it's
bringing a nursing home

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into housing, a nursing
home that's closed in

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Gilman, we were able to
support making that into

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apartments or schools that
have closed due to lack of

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population, turning those
into housing. But we are

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also seeing new housing
being built. And so what I

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would want to do is make
sure that local communities

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have the resources they
need to provide the

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infrastructure, the water,
the sewer for new housing,

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but then also making sure
that we're supporting

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developers all around the
state as they make the move

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to build housing.
>> We have to have a

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multi-pronged approach, and
we have to make it easier

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to build housing and look
at different avenues and

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innovative ways to ensure
that we have permanent

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affordability when it comes
to housing. I'm interested

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in looking at community
land trusts about how we

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can provide better zoning
regulations and the ability

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to build ADUs and ensure
that we have spaces for

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some folks who may no
longer need to be in their

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homes. Where there can be
starter homes for folks who

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are moving into communities
and looking at diversifying

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our housing stock for folks
who are moving or maybe

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downsizing.
>> Wisconsin likely needs a

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top to bottom housing plan
where we can look at all

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aspects of this, and there
are tools at our disposal

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that we have through Wida
that I'm not sure that we

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are using to the best of
our abilities. And if we

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need new tools, we'll go
out and get them. But this

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is kind of the core of
affordability for Wisconsin

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families, is ensuring that
they have a safe and secure

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place to put a roof over
their head, that they can

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build equity, that they can
build wealth for their

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family over time. So that's
one of the issues that I

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look forward to working on
as soon as I become

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governor.
>> Well, first of all, we

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need to get control of
property taxes. At a

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minimum, freeze them. I
would get rid of the 400

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year property tax increase,
but I think we can do a lot

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of it via regulatory reform.
And I refer to it as a red

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tape review. You look at
the state of Virginia, they

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did something like this,
and they reduced their

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regulations largely by
by about 25%. They reduced

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the cost of building a new
home by about $24,000.

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We've seen studies by the
Wisconsin Institute for Law

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and Liberty, where they've
said as much as $80,000

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goes in to the cost of a
new home. That has nothing

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to do with building
materials. So I think we

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can get control of some of
that by reducing

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duplication in regulations.
>> It's important to

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understand that there isn't
a one size solution that

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fits all of the problems
that we're facing as a

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state. What works in
Milwaukee may not work in

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Menasha, may not work in
Marinette, may not work in

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Barron. And so we have to
make sure that we're

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working with those local
organizations, those local

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units of government, to
figure out what right size

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solution works for them.
Yes. Do we need more

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affordable housing?
Absolutely we do. We need

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that for our seniors, for
working families, for

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people with disabilities.
But we also need attainable

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housing as well. And
attainable housing is those

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who have the ability to
afford those who may not

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qualify for affordable
housing, but have the means

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to buy their own home. Yet
we don't have the housing

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stock.
doing more to incent

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development projects,
helping local governments

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make zoning changes to
allow for more housing to

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be built, and to allow more
flexibility in how we use

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our dollars so that we can
actually get more bang for

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our buck in terms of
building new housing. But

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ultimately, this is really
a supply and demand problem.

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We have too much need for
housing and not enough

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houses being built, and
it's been that way for

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since the Bush recession.
We've underbuilt housing

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and now we're really
reaping the consequences.

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So we just have to get more
So we just have to get more