Bipartisan package seeks to increase Wisconsin’s lower-cost housing 

On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers released measures intended to increase lower-cost housing for Wisconsinites, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. 

The measures include the creation of loan programs to build infrastructure; the conversion of vacant commercial buildings into homes; the rehabilitation of housing above commercial businesses; the expansion of an existing home-rehabilitation program; and the limitation of local governments’ ability to interfere with or stop new housing developments, among other items. 

The proposals seek to address the state’s ongoing housing crisis as well as increase incentives for younger adults to move to the state. 

Last week, the legislature’s Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee stripped around $270 million aimed at increasing lower-cost housing from Gov. Tony Evers’ budget.