GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A new coalition is being launched to help address housing needs for tribal communities in the Badger State.
It’s called the Wisconsin Native Homeownership Coalition and is backed by Oneida Nation-owned Bay Bank.
The housing crisis is a problem that continues to grow across the country and here in Wisconsin, but it’s an even bigger issue among Native American communities.
“Really, we’ve had this issue in Indian Country for decades, with overcrowding and not enough housing stock,” Wisconsin Indigenous Housing & Economic Development Corporation CEO Fern Orie said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the home ownership rate in Wisconsin is 67.9% for all residents. For Native Americans in Wisconsin, it’s around 57%.
Now, with the creation of the Wisconsin Native Homeownership Coalition, work is being done to increase housing supply and affordability for tribal communities.
“We really want to address the key issues and come up with some fantastic solutions that will work for our people,” Orie said.
Orie said those solutions include increasing home ownership, making rentals more affordable and creating an ecosystem to be self-reliant.
This means establishing a workforce of people skilled in trades to build the homes for Native American families.
“It’s more of a long-term comprehensive approach as opposed to, ‘Hey, let’s go find a contractor and build a house.’ Let’s still build a house, but let’s build our own workforce so we can just replicate this and do it over and over,” Bay Bank President/CEO Jeff Bowman said.
Bowman came up with the idea for the Wisconsin Native Homeownership Coalition after attending a conference in Idaho. There, he heard about other states doing this and wanted to make it happen here.
The coalition will be a big help in finding housing for the homeless, older adults, youth in college and people coming out of the correctional system, among many others.
“When you invest in something like economic development, over time, you should get traction. It’s like planting a seed — you won’t see the plant right away, but all of a sudden, you’re going to see growth down the road,” Bowman said.
The coalition is getting off the ground thanks in part to a recent $10,000 grant from the Wisconsin Bankers Association and an investment from Bay Bank.
While there’s no quick fix to ending the housing crisis, they hope it’s a step in the right direction to change lives.
