(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . 45 Degrees North: Making Room In The Rural Housing Shortage [1] ['Donna Kallner', 'The Daily Yonder', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2024-06-14 Right now, there aren’t many properties for sale in my area. That’s true in many rural places, although here there may be a few more high-end listings — retirement dream homes built by people now needing to move nearer to family, health care providers and other services. With few comparables, those properties may sit on the market for a while. But there are few listings that might be affordable for a first-time buyer. And those get snapped up quickly – often by non-residents as second homes. Don’t think I don’t appreciate neighbors who chose this area for their retirement. They are vital to the local economy, as are non-resident vacation homeowners. And I can’t blame a seller for wanting to get top dollar from whoever can pay it. But rural communities are feeling ripple effects as the lack of affordable housing options impacts everything from tourism to agribusiness, school districts and health care providers. Finding solutions that don’t rely on winning lottery tickets and fairy godmothers won’t be easy. But we need to make room for younger people to live, work, raise families and build lives in our communities. And we need to do it soon. In Wisconsin, the median age is 39.9. In Langlade County, it’s 48.6. In the Town of Wolf River where I live (population 643), the median age is 65.4. The median value of owner-occupied housing units, while lower than statewide, is about 25% higher than the county as a whole. The median household income, though, is only about 80% of the county’s and 60% of the state’s. My generation may have faced higher interest rates when buying property as young adults (my husband bought on land contract at age 30 at 10%). But today’s young would-be buyers face challenges beyond interest rates and the limited inventory of properties. That makes me even more grateful for the young people I know who have bought into the community in recent years. Let me introduce a few of them. Three members of our volunteer fire department are military veterans in their 30s who grew up elsewhere but chose to settle here. For anyone who hasn’t heard, rural fire departments are facing a critical shortage of volunteers. The contributions of these and other younger members of our department benefit the community in many ways, including what we pay for homeowners insurance (yes, it could be higher). I’m also grateful that there are other people willing and able to respond so my 73-year-old husband no longer feels he should put on 45 pounds of firefighter PPE and possibly do an entry into a burning building. One of those young men is now a deacon in his church. His wife works for the school district, and provides emergency child care for at least one fire department member who may need to drop off a kid before responding to a call. Two of those young men are active in the local American Legion post, taking on leadership roles that Vietnam-era vets took on as World War II and Korean conflict vets aged. One is able to join the older vets on Monday mornings when they convene at the local coffee shop to tell stories and banter with the knitters. The knitting group includes a young mother of three. She and her late husband hoped to homestead on property they bought here. Plans changed when he died, but she and the kids are still here. She’s the kind of neighbor who brings soup when you’re sick, duck eggs when she has a surplus, a pie for no reason at all. She’s the person I text with prayer requests and queries that start with, “If you’re going to town…” The barista at that coffee shop and her husband recently bought a home here. They had been renting a place from his employer and were grateful for it. But they couldn’t have a dog there, let alone start a family. The place they bought was owned by people they knew who were moving out of the area when they snapped it up. She’s the kind of person who brings a regular customer a cookie when they come in slightly frazzled by the commotion of a roofing crew working at their place. On a recent Monday, I asked other younger friends I saw at the coffee shop about their experiences buying property here. One couple had hoped to buy a farm, but even 15 years ago the price of farmland was prohibitively expensive. They were able to buy a home but are only able to pasture their grass-fed grass-finished beef elsewhere through a lease agreement. I’ve lost count of how many other fulltime and parttime jobs they also work, and still they find time to serve in local government. But farmland ownership is still out of reach for them and many others who once could have bought on land contract. At one time, farms around here were big enough to whittle off a corner for the kids to build on. Even if they had jobs off the farm it was handy to have them close by. But there aren’t that many places left where that’s an option. And there’s another market for those that remain. Amish and Mennonite families are moving into this area. They aren’t necessarily all planning futures as subsistence farmers. But I would be surprised if their communities didn’t buy land that can be divided into smaller holdings for growing families. In the meantime, the young men on the roofing crew working on my place will bring down the median age in the county. I doubt they will join the volunteer fire department or serve on the school board. But they will make other contributions – including paying taxes. I can’t help but think we might learn some lessons from the elders in Amish and Mennonite communities about the importance of making it possible for young families to put down roots through home ownership. Because outside those communities, young people who want to buy without competing against higher-income retirees and second home buyers are not just watching real estate listings. They’re also watching the obituaries. I’m not proud to admit it, but I do, too. Last winter when a neighbor died, I texted contact information to someone I know is looking for property – someone who would likely join the volunteer fire department here and be a huge asset if they are able to find something both affordable and eligible for a VA-backed home loan. I hope not to be the subject of an obituary for some time yet. But while we’re above ground, we’re contributing to the lack of “churn” in the rural housing market that limits supply and degrades housing stock. The longer elderly residents like us (ouch) stay in our homes, the more likely those homes will need extensive maintenance and rehabilitation when they do make it to market. I can’t argue with that: If we had a reliable crystal ball that said re-roofing could wait until we both kicked the bucket, that’s exactly what we would have done. But as a community, I don’t think we can afford to defer action on the rural housing shortage. So I am following the League of Wisconsin Municipalities More Wisconsin Housing initiative, hoping to find ideas that can make a difference in my rural community. And if we do happen to hit it big with a lottery ticket or find a fairy godmother, I have big plans for buying property we could parcel off. Because I would love to have young first-time buyers find affordable housing in my neighborhood without having to die to make that possible. Donna Kallner writes from Langlade County in rural northern Wisconsin. Related Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailyyonder.com/45-degrees-north-making-room-in-the-rural-housing-shortage/2024/06/14/ Published and (C) by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailyyonder/