DOOR COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Like many communities, Door County lacks affordable housing. NeighborWorks in Green Bay is partnering with the Door County Community Foundation to help fill the gap.
A vacation destination that sits on a peninsula, affordable housing is at a premium in Door County, and has been for years.
“Too many people in Door County, who are working full-time, find themselves priced out of this market because of the incredible cost of living up here, relative to some of our communities to the south,” said Bret Bicoy, President/CEO of the Door County Community Foundation.
The tourism industry not only bidding up the price of housing, but what used to be affordable housing units have been turned into short-term vacation rentals.
According to Bicoy, “Housing prices, construction costs are more expensive here in Door County because you have to bring everything in. We’re not on the way to anywhere and so that also adds to the cost of housing in this community.”
Back in 2019, the Door County Economic Development Corporation determined the county was 470 rental units short of affordable housing, for year round workers. That number has only grown, despite some development in Sturgeon Bay and Sister Bay.
“Most of the apartments that have been built in the last handful of years are market rate rents, or what are considered market rate rents, but that might not be affordable to somebody that is working a lot during the season, but then not the rest of the year,” added Mariah Goode, Director of Door County Land Use Services.
The Door County Community Foundation and NeighborWorks Green Bay have created the Workforce Housing Lending Corporation which is willing to offer low interest rate loans to developers who want build affordable housing units in the county.
When developers build these units, funding normally comes from a variety of sources, the Workforce Housing Lending Corporation loan would simply be another piece of the funding pie.
Bicoy said, “Our money might only make 10% or 20% of an entire project’s cost, but those dollars are so cheap, so efficient, so flexible that it makes it possible for you to build your units at a lower cost if you had to do it at a market rate and then that allows you to rent them out at a level that’s affordable to working families.”
While this loan program is new, the idea to offer incentives to developers to help with the affordable housing problem is something Door County has been working on for years.
Developers call it gap funding and these units in Sister Bay were made possible with the help of ARRPA funds handed out by the county.
And several new affordable housing homes are being built in Sturgeon Bay through another incentive program.
It won’t be a quick fix, but Door County is determined make sure working people can have a decent, safe, quality place to live.
