Zoning reform does not build a house
A new Wisconsin study that includes Merrill shows why flexible rules matter—and why prepared land, financing, developer capacity and a real buyer price still decide whether homes get built.
Read the story →
Northwoods housing notes
Useful reporting for a region that needs more homes.
Plainspoken analysis of Oneida County housing, Wisconsin programs, financing, construction and the decisions that determine what gets built.
The slab is not the foundation: what a Northwoods HUD-home site really needs
A permanent manufactured-home installation starts with the home’s approved support and anchoring plan, then adds Wisconsin frost protection, drainage, utilities and site-specific engineering.
Read the story →
Wisconsin built a new TID for starter-home neighborhoods
Act 235 can reimburse infrastructure for compact, owner-occupied neighborhoods. The opportunity is real—but it is not a grant, and affordability is not automatic.
Read the story →
The cheapest Northwoods lot can be the most expensive place to build
A parcel is not a buildable homesite simply because it is for sale. Septic suitability, a well, wetlands, access, setbacks and utilities can change the real cost before the house arrives.
Read the story →
A quiet WHEDA meeting could matter for the next Northwoods neighborhood
WHEDA is set to consider new infrastructure awards and a single-family housing product on August 5. For Northwoods communities, the details show what it takes to turn housing need into buildable lots.
Read the story →
Lincoln County is putting housing into its two-year work plan
County supervisors are discussing support for municipal housing development and infrastructure as part of the county’s priorities for the next two years.
Read the story →
WHEDA financing includes an important path for manufactured-home buyers
Wisconsin’s homebuyer programs recognize eligible double-wide manufactured homes, but the home, land, installation and loan still have to work together.
Read the story →
HUD’s latest proposal could make multistory manufactured homes more practical
A proposed federal rule would remove the permanent-chassis requirement from upper-floor sections, opening more room for efficient two-story home designs.
Read the story →
A 36-lot west-side subdivision moves through Rhinelander review
Tony Pharo called housing the region’s leading economic constraint as the plan commission considered new residential land.
Read the story →
What Oneida County should do next
The case has been made. The useful work now is specific: identify buildable sites, target real monthly payments and complete an early project others can follow.
Read the story →
Rhinelander approves the Boyce Drive housing agreement
The agreement moved another housing project from broad support toward defined responsibilities and execution.
Read the story →
The infrastructure math that can stop housing before it starts
Tony Pharo explained why even low-interest infrastructure debt can add an unaffordable amount to every home.
Read the story →
Rhinelander approves West Wind Drive rezoning
The council decision sent a signal about whether new housing proposals can move through the local process.
Read the story →
What makes homeownership easier in practice
Not a slogan. A complete budget, early site work, sensible financing and fewer surprises between choosing a plan and getting the keys.
Read the story →
The zoning rules quietly making housing more expensive
A town can say it wants attainable homes while minimum sizes, wide lots and cosmetic requirements make those homes impossible to build.
Read the story →
Washington is finally paying attention to manufactured housing
Federal programs increasingly recognize factory-built homes as part of the supply answer, although the fine print still determines whether a buyer can use them.
Read the story →
The overlooked housing opportunity: helping people stay
Many older residents are not trying to leave the Northwoods. They are trying to find a manageable home that lets them remain here.
Read the story →
The monthly cost matters more than the sticker
A lower purchase price is not much help if a Northern Wisconsin winter turns the heating bill into a second mortgage payment.
Read the story →
Why a smaller house can be a better house
Cutting wasted hallways is not the same as cutting daily comfort. A thoughtful plan protects the rooms and storage people actually use.
Read the story →
Eagle River’s Riverside debate shows the difficulty of creating new homesites
A proposal involving roughly five acres reached residential zoning but stopped at the county sale—a useful case study in land, public trust and housing approvals.
Read the story →
The Wisconsin housing program developers should understand
WHEDA’s infrastructure financing goes after the unglamorous costs that can decide whether a workforce-housing project gets built at all.
Read the story →
The advertised home price is not the project price
The number that matters includes the foundation, the driveway, the utilities and the ground underneath it—not just the house leaving the factory.
Read the story →
CrossMod homes, without the marketing language
The useful idea is simple: combine factory efficiency with the design, installation and financing expectations of conventional homeownership.
Read the story →
What “HUD-code” actually means
It is a construction standard, not a description of a neighborhood or a prediction about what a home will look like.
Read the story →
Factory-built housing isn’t temporary housing
The home is built indoors. The neighborhood, foundation and responsibilities are every bit as permanent as any other house.
Read the story →
You can’t recruit people who have nowhere to live
Around here, a job offer can fall apart over a forty-mile commute. That makes housing every bit as important as roads, broadband and industrial space.
Read the story →
What Oneida County’s housing study is really telling us
The report puts data behind something people here already feel: the available homes do not match the people who live and work in the Northwoods.
Read the story →
Vilas County’s permit decline shows how quickly new-home supply can stall
A sharp drop in single-family permits is a warning sign for a county already balancing permanent residents, seasonal demand and high land costs.
Read the story →
A regional study points Lincoln County toward smaller-lot homeownership
The Centergy housing study connects attainable single-family construction with compact sites near jobs, utilities and existing community services.
Read the story →
The study’s headline number: more than 1,000 owner-occupied homes
Oneida County’s completed study quantified a shortage large enough to affect nearly every employer and community.
Read the story →
Lincoln County’s housing study identifies a need for more than 1,300 homes
The county’s 2030 forecast shows that owner housing remains central to the workforce equation, even in a market where single-family homes already dominate the inventory.
Read the story →
Oneida County formally launches its housing study
The study set out to replace assumptions with market data developers could use.
Read the story →
Why Oneida County needed a housing study before it could build
Employers were describing the same problem everywhere Tony Pharo went: jobs were available, but homes were not.
Read the story →
Tower Road Acres opens a new path for homebuilding in Forest County
A 240-acre Crandon-area development began releasing wooded homesites in a county where new residential supply has been difficult to create.
Read the story →
The Grow North study showed a regional shortage of attainable homes
Across Vilas, Forest, Lincoln and neighboring counties, the housing problem was already visible: older inventory, high site costs and too few practical ownership choices.
Read the story →