TUE AM News: Centergy study projects rising central WI housing demand; Evers administration says loss of $29 million in federal funds ‘setback’ for modernizing UI system

August 5, 2025

— A five-county region in central Wisconsin will need more than 11,000 additional housing units by 2040 to meet projected demand, according to a study from economic development group Centergy.

The organization, which focuses on Adams, Lincoln, Marathon, Portage and Wood counties, yesterday released its Regional Housing Study. It highlights the “growing need for affordable, workforce-ready housing” across these counties even as changing economic trends have led to fewer residents than previously expected.

The study references earlier figures from the state Department of Administration, which in 2013 projected the region would have 142,506 households by 2020. An updated estimate for 2023 puts that figure at 140,380, reflecting that the region didn’t grow as quickly as initially expected. But the region did see an “unexpected population bump” between 2020 and 2024, authors note.

“Even though the estimated number of future households was reduced for all five counties, there is still a strong regional demand for housing units both immediately and by 2030, followed by continued but waning demand through 2040,” they wrote.

Based on the latest figures, the region’s current housing need stands at 4,677 units. That figure is 3,659 for 2030, then 2,178 for 2035, and 892 for 2040, putting total projected demand by then at 11,406.

Of the region’s five counties, the greatest demand is seen in Marathon County, which has nearly twice as many residents as any other Centergy county with about 57,000 in 2023. Its immediate housing need for this year is 2,217 units, and total demand by 2040 is expected to hit 6,336 units, making up more than half of the region’s total demand.

Still, authors point out that new units being added anywhere in the area will help address demand.

“This is because fewer people need to commute long distances if more housing is available, as reflected in the large share of workers who both live and work within the Region,” they wrote.

The report highlights several challenges for housing affordability in the area, including household incomes behind those of larger cities, a high share of retired residents, extensive seasonal housing and a shortage of higher-end housing.

“The result is that households of various incomes compete over similar housing units, driving up prices for low- and middle-income households,” authors wrote. “It also makes the region less desirable for developers who work in larger cities, as lower prices make margins smaller as construction costs remain high.”

To expedite the creation of more housing there, the report lays out numerous policy approaches, categorized into low-effort, medium-effort and high-effort. These include various adjustments to zoning and permitting to reduce barriers to construction, educational resources for homebuyers as well as developers and landlords, housing trust funds, and employer-sponsored housing.

“There is an opportunity for local and county government to incentivize this style of development,” the authors wrote.

Going forward, they expect greater demand in the region for housing that accommodates disabilities as the population gets older. And as the homes themselves get older, some may “no longer be worth investing in renovating,” as some of the projected demand will come from replacing them.

At the same time, they say more widespread remote work and demand for homes for seasonal visitors could drive more residents to the region.

See the study.

— The federal government’s decision to rescind $29 million for the state’s unemployment program has been a “setback” for DWD in its effort to complete a modernization of the system, the Evers administration says.

In a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee, the secretaries of Administration and Workforce Development wrote the state was forced to halt several projects after the funds were rescinded in May.

That includes:

$11.25 million to modernize the current employer portal.
$6.8 million for “UI Equity” to “facilitate effective written communication with all UI customers through an agile and efficient systems interface.”
$6.3 million to improve fraud detection and prevention.
$4.5 million to bolster identity authentication and proofing tools.

“Indisputably, U.S. DOL’s termination of the modernization funds set DWD back in terms of completing its modernization projects,” DOA Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld and DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek wrote in Thursday’s letter.

The Evers administration has been working to modernize the state’s unemployment system since a deluge of claims during the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed it and led to lengthy delays for those applying for benefits. Since then, the guv has allocated $80 million in COVID-19 funds to modernize the system.

According to the letter, $46 million of that money has been expended with another $2.8 million committed.

The Trump administration in May rescinded $675 million in COVID-19 funds that had been allocated to states to modernize their unemployment systems. The secretaries wrote they asked the U.S. Department of Labor to reconsider terminating the grants and asked the Joint Finance Committee for one-time funds to make up the loss. But both requests were denied.

The offices of the co-chairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. DWD declined comment beyond the letter, which is part of a quarterly update to the committee on the progress in modernizing the system.

Blumenfeld and Pechaceck wrote the $80 million in COVID-19 funds dedicated to the effort weren’t impacted by the Trump administration decision. But that money is insufficient to “support the full modernization work and integration of its IT systems in a cloud-based environment.” The migration to a cloud-based system won’t happen until DWD has sufficient resources to make the move.

— U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer during her first visit to Wisconsin touted President Donald Trump’s recent import tariffs as “leveling the playing field.”

She made the comments yesterday while touring a veterinary hospital construction project in Mequon as part of her “America at Work” tour, during which she’s been to at least 20 other states. Shea plans to visit all 50 by the end of the year, her staff said.

Chavez-DeRemer argued Trump has been “masterful at his negotiations with the tariffs, leveling the playing field, making sure that we have reciprocal privileges back and forth in these countries.”

“The goal is to level that playing field,” she added. “So if people don’t want tariffs, if companies don’t want tariffs, they can build right here in America. We’ve seen the onshoring and reshoring of over $10 trillion committed to the United States so that we can develop and build right here in America and export.”

State Dem spokesperson Phil Shulman knocked the president’s handling of the economy.

“The Trump administration has created such a mess of our economy they’ve resorted to firing people who point out the job losses that are occurring under the Republican’s control of government,” Shulman said. “They want to create an alternative reality where they get to celebrate their handout to billionaires and ignore the pain their Tariff Tax is causing to parents, workers, farmers, and manufacturers.”

Trump’s most recent tariffs took effect at the start of August and imposed a 25% tax on goods from Canada and Mexico, two of America’s biggest trade partners, as well as 145% on Chinese goods and 10% on those coming from elsewhere.

The latest tariffs as well as past and present threats of other tariffs have created some uncertainty among businesses. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 both fell 1 percent on Friday, the same day Trump’s tariffs took effect, and the unemployment rate ticked up just slightly to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent.

“There has been some uncertainty, where people are not sure what’s happening,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “But it’s starting to play out, and we’re starting to see those numbers grow. Over 500,000 jobs have been created since the President took office.”

That uncertainty also comes amid a workforce shortage across the country, and Chavez-DeRemer said her plan to address that issue is to first figure out what industry leaders need and then work with local tech colleges to further develop apprenticeship programs.

GOP U.S. Reps. Glenn Grothman of Glenbeulah and Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, as well as state Rep. Paul Melotik of Grafton, were also there.

— The equalized value of Wisconsin real estate increased 8% to $982.7 billion over last year, according to preliminary numbers from the Department of Revenue.

That’s a similar increase to what the state saw between 2023 and 2024.

The preliminary figures showed: residential values were up 9% this year; commercial 7%, manufacturing 6% and agricultural 6%. Forest land saw the biggest jump at 12% with ag forest at 11%.

The preliminary figures give municipalities the opportunity to review the values before they’re certified on Aug. 15.

The equalized values provide an estimate of a district’s total taxable value.

— State health officials have reported the state’s first measles cases of the year, which come as more Wisconsin students are getting vaccination waivers.

The Department of Health Services and local health officials on Saturday announced they had confirmed nine cases of measles in Oconto County, all of which were linked to out-of-state exposure. The state agency says no public points of exposure have been identified and the risk of further spread is low.

Following the measles announcement, DHS yesterday rolled out updated student vaccination figures for the 2024-2025 school year, showing 86.4% of students met minimum immunization requirements. That’s a decrease of 2.8 percentage points from the prior school year.

At the same time, 3.8% of all students were behind schedule on their vaccines, which is twice as high as the previous year. Still, DHS notes this increase and the overall decline in students meeting minimum vaccination requirements are due to a new meningitis vaccination requirement for those in grades 7 to 12.

DHS also notes the share of students with one or more vaccination waivers was 6.7% in the 2024-2025 school year, up from 3.4% in 2004-2005. Currently, 5.8% of students have a personal conviction waiver.

DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard notes Wisconsin has a higher waiver rate than other states, and is one of just 13 states that allows the personal conviction waiver in addition to those granted for religious and medical reasons.

This comes as Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, and Rep. Lindee Brill, R-Sheboygan Falls, are circulating legislation that would require schools to provide more information to parents about waivers for vaccines.

The lawmakers have argued the bill would increase transparency and let parents make decisions about their kids’ health.

Speaking yesterday during a DHS news conference, Westergaard said “we feel in public health that knowledge of the exemptions or waivers is commonplace” as related information is already provided by schools to students and parents.

“Our recommendation is that people get their kids vaccinated, because we as a public health entity feel that any risks are far outweighed by the benefit, both to individual health and to our community health,” he said when asked about the legislation.

Neither lawmaker provided comment on yesterday’s press conference.

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