Generic neighborhood, housing in Grand Chute. PC: Fox 11 Online
GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Grand Chute is in the process of creating a framework to help the community deal with its housing crisis.
In an effort to plan for the future, community leaders are assessing the now.
“We want to make sure that the folks that are here, already in Grand Chute, can transition into their next phase of life in our community, if possible,” says Mike Patza, community development director.
The topic he’s referring to is housing.
Patza says Grand Chute is working with a consulting firm, RDG Design out of Iowa, to build a future housing strategy. Part of that research means surveying the community.
“Really, what we’re trying to get out of the survey is hear from residents, hear from residential developers, hear from large employers, on what’s missing as far as housing goes, and what the challenges are out there when people are looking for housing,” Patza adds.
A housing study is something that Outagamie County conducted not too long ago using ARPA funds. County leaders say they learned that the county is experiencing some of the same trends seen across the nation.
“Underproduction of housing of all types and income levels, so we just haven’t produced enough housing to meet our demand,” says Sadie DiNatale Burda, the development and land services director for Outagamie County. “So as the population increases, or even as household size shrinks, we need those units to accommodate our households, and we just haven’t been building enough.”
Community leaders in Grand Chute already know they have a high percentage of multi-family housing.
“We hear that from meeting with some large employers, that one of their biggest challenges is housing for their employees,” Patza says. “Some emergency services folks, [they say] it’s a large strain on our emergency services, on our services in general, so just trying to get a better understanding of whether or not we have the right mix of multi-family versus single-family.”
I think it’s well known in our world, in the general public, that there’s a lack of single-family housing. Lack of inventory, lack of affordable housing, so all those things coming together were kind of an impetus for us coming together to do this housing study.
Patza says this research and community input will help them identify what other housing they should be investing in and encouraging.
There’s recognition that the affordability of supplies and homes isn’t something municipalities can control, but leaders are discovering other ways they can assist in the housing crisis.
“Things that we’re hearing that the municipality can do, and we have already, are making our zoning code as flexible as possible to allow a wide variety of housing types, and also making the development and approval process as streamlined as possible,” Patza says.
As part of this whole process, Patza says his team is working on zoning code updates, so future plans can be implemented in all areas, not solely housing.
Patza says while retaining community members is vital, so is attracting new community members and ensuring they have what everyone needs.
A survey for community members is available for residents to fill out by clicking here. The survey will be open until Aug. 31.
Patza adds that consultants will be done gathering research and data in the coming weeks, and will help the town build a strategic community housing plan for the future soon after. That guiding document should be completed by the end of the year.
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