APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – Appleton’s taskforce on housing development policy, just created last fall, held its first public meeting on Wednesday afternoon in which it shared its findings from a study conducted over six months in the fall and winter.
The report involved a plan to make it easier and more streamlined for housing developers to apply for and receive permitting and approval for projects, among other initiatives to improve the housing situation in Appleton.
“We would like to see housing development as much as possible as rapidly as possible,” Mayor Jake Woodford said. “We have demonstrated need in this community and we have demonstrated challenges in this community at all price points.”
According to Kara Homan, Appleton director of community and economic development, the housing cost to income ratio in Appleton increased by more than 50% over the last decade. She said usually that ratio is 2:1, and currently …