Lawmakers help raise a wall on a house project in Menasha. August 26, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Lawmakers helped raise a wall on a Habitat for Humanity home in Menasha Tuesday.
“Housing is an issue that it doesn’t matter if you’re a [Republican] or a [Democrat]. Together, we know that housing is an issue and we can find solutions if we work together,” said John Weyenberg, president and CEO of the Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity.
According to a recent study cited by Habitat for Humanity, the Fox Valley will need 18,000 new homes in the next decade.
“That’s a tremendous number, and it’s going to take all sorts of resource to make that happen,” Weyenberg explained. “It’s going to take the public-private partnership and working hand-in-hand with our corporate community, as well as our elected officials.”
Local lawmakers agree the Fox Valley’s housing shortage is a serious crisis, and houses are needed more than new rental space.
“We have people who cannot afford to upgrade to a different home. They’re staying in their starter homes,” said Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton. “That leaves seniors without a place to go. That leaves new families without a place to go.”
Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, agreed.
“It’s great to get somebody in a home. Because a home, it helps you build a family,” he said. “You know, we’re all individualistic when we’re born, and we have to learn to grow together. And a home does that in a way that a rental property might not.”
Tusler added building more homes could solve another problem the community has been facing: childcare.
If we can’t help people find something that makes financial sense for them, then maybe working from home is what they’re going to choose. So by building a house, we’re not only helping that employer that’s employing somebody working from their home, we’re also solving that childcare issue too.
The raising of the Habitat for Humanity wall was just the first step on a path towards constructing more affordable housing.
Snodgrass said a package of affordable housing bills will come out of Madison sometime next month.
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