HUD Secretary Ben Carson: Cut regulations, consider tiny houses to solve affordable housing shortage in areas like Green Bay

Jeff Bollier
Green Bay Press-Gazette

GREEN BAY - Ben Carson, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, praised the Broadway Lofts development in downtown Green Bay on Monday as an example of how local government and private developers can work together to help address the nation's critical shortage of affordable housing. 

Carson's visit Monday included a roundtable with nonprofit and housing industry leaders and a tour of Broadway Lofts, which includes a 93-unit apartment building and 14 townhouse units located east of North Broadway and south of Mather Street.

Carson said state and local governments need to work with developers to remove barriers to increasing construction of affordable housing, tap developer incentives available through Opportunity Zones to attract investment in low-income neighborhoods, and find new, creative ways to address the need for affordable housing.

Carson said Broadway Lofts is evidence of what's possible.  

Ben Carson, left, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, looks out the front window of a new three bedroom townhouse apartment under construction in  the Rail Yard District in downtown Green Bay. Carson visited Green Bay and Milwaukee on Sept. 28 to encourage communities to cut regulations and get creative to address the area's need for more affordable housing units.

Carson said some local housing rules can get in the way of that creativity. He did not address specific regulations, instead focusing on the 25% of new home construction costs that HUD research has attributed to government regulations.

Carson said communities can ease regulations to allow development of tiny homes, modular homes or container homes as ways to affordably meet local housing needs. 

"It really is a matter of people in that locality making that decision that they're going to sit down and look at these regulations, decide which ones are truly needed and which ones are just residual. More and more places are starting to do that and it's making a difference."

In Green Bay, affordable apartments are full, single-family home prices are rising, and construction of affordable units have picked up but are not enough to meet demand. Additionally, the cost of key construction materials continues to rise, making affordable housing less attractive to builders and developers, who turn to federal, state and local governments to close the financing gap. 

The city has sought ways to boost its support for construction of new lower-cost housing in recent years, including extending several tax incremental financing districts, or TIF districts, by one year to generate a projected $2 million for affordable housing projects.  

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Indiana-based TWG Development first pitched Broadway Lofts five years ago, but did not receive the state tax credits it needed to finance the project until 2018. Public assistance for building the apartments included state tax credits, funding from the Brown County Housing Authority and TIF assistance via the city. 

John Sullivan, TWG Development's vice president of tax credit development, said there's a waiting list for Broadway Lofts apartments, where rents range from $500 for a one bedroom unit up to $1,200 for a three-bedroom townhouse. He said the building will welcome its first residents in November.

The first floor of a 3-bedroom townhouse apartment being built by Indiana-based TWG Development along North Broadway. TWG has nearly completed construction of the Broadway Lofts, a project includes 93 apartments and 14 three-bedroom townhouse units. All units will rent for between $500 and $1,200.

He said city leaders have been helpful in keeping the project on schedule, leading TWG to agree to build 225 units of market-rate apartments, also in the Rail Yard, which will give that area a diverse mix of housing options. Carson said the variety sets the redevelopment of the Rail Yard up for long-term success.

"It's all being planned out strategically and it's going to be a beautiful development when it's all said and done," Carson said. "That's because it's not something the federal government dictates; It's something done by the local people." 

Community groups that help low-income individuals and families find affordable housing said the city's efforts to-date are positive but demand for affordably priced homes and apartments continues to outpace the addition of new units. 

Cora Haltaufderheid, executive director of the Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity, said the organization is ready to follow Carson's suggestion to get creative, but she also said groups need funding or land to develop single-family and multifamily housing to address region's demand.

Habitat has built 122 homes in the Green Bay area since it was established in 1988, but Haltaufderheid noted if could follow the lead of other chapters of the national organization have started to pursue mixed-use developments that have upper floor housing and first floor retail space. 

"We need to be creative. Habitat is no longer just a house. There are communities where Habitat's building apartments with retail space on the first floor. Our model has to change and we can do it," Haltaufderheid said. "Let's talk and put a plan together because this helps everybody. Once people get out of poverty and into their own homes, they're paying taxes and supporting the community."

At the far end of the table, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson discuss affordable housing development with northeastern Wisconsin housing industry and nonprofit leaders. On Sept. 28, Carson toured an apartment building under construction and encouraged local communities to remove regulations and get creative to address affordable housing shortfalls.

Congressman Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, echoed Carson's call for local governments to take the lead in innovation and reducing barriers to residential construction.

"It's one thing for HUD to say 'These are good ideas and here's some funding,' but local leaders have to seize that initiative," Gallagher said. "I think we have a huge opportunity. Wisconsin in general, but northeast Wisconsin in particular, should be poised for a boom because there are people who want to leave big cities like Chicago, New York and LA, and why not come to a place where we have safe, strong communities, where you can actually have some space and are not on top of each other?"

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @GBstreetwise