Badger Institute’s vision for the upcoming year
Our governor has been on a listening tour, asking what the people of this state want as we head into 2025.
Not much, I think.
Just the chance to buy a modest house that can be heated in an affordable, responsible way. A small place where Wisconsinites can rise up after a decent sleep away from gunshots and close to a job that pays the bills. Close, too, to a really good school where both the kids and the teachers feel safe and hopeful.
Housing: Badger Institute priority No. 1
Lack of attainable housing is the most pressing and debilitating problem right now, and it’s getting worse.
The median sales price of Wisconsin homes increased over 50% between 2017 and 2022, has continued to rise, and is now $310,000, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association. New home construction is doing little to solve this problem. According to the Metro Multiple Listing Service, the average sale price of a newly built home sold in the first 11 months of 2024 averaged over $505,000.
There are not enough new homes being built, and scarcity is driving up cost. There were four times as many lots platted in 2005 as in 2023. Housing inventory was 64% lower in October 2024 as it was in October 2016.
Price-to-income ratios for homes sold are over 5:1 in parts of Wisconsin, far higher than most can or should pay. As recently as 2004, over 73% of households in Wisconsin owned their property. That figure slipped to 66% in 2019 and sits at 67% today.
The dilemma is driving Wisconsinites into the rental market, but they are frustrated there too. Rents are skyrocketing in areas with modest incomes. The state’s median rental cost is now approaching $1,300 per month, according to multiple sources.
A big problem: government overregulation and unpredictability kill many projects that would increase housing supply, and they substantially increase the time needed to complete those projects that do go forward. More can be done, starting in Madison, to allow the housing market to work without huge government subsidies.
Energy: Badger Institute priority No. 2
An analysis by one of our visiting fellows, Andrew Hanson, found that substituting electric heat pumps in place of natural gas furnaces would add $20,000 to the cost of owning the average new Wisconsin house — and much more up north, where it’s colder. Electricity isn’t cheap, and heat pumps use a lot of electricity in low temperatures.
The utility consortium that moves electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s needed in America’s heartland, MISO, has warned that the Midwest will be short as much as 3,700 megawatts of electricity next summer and by as much as 14,000 megawatts by the end of the decade. The solution is not banning fossil fuels.
One of our goals: Convince Wisconsin politicians that advanced nuclear technology such as small modular reactors are now a real solution. There’s a reason companies such as Google and Amazon are negotiating deals to buy reliable nuclear energy needed to run power-hungry artificial intelligence technology — and there’s a reason Wisconsin should start laying out the welcome mat now.
Work: Badger Institute priority No. 3
One of the first things Gov. Tony Evers mentions in press releases about his listening tour is “bolstering our workforce and reducing barriers to work.” Alleluia. Wisconsinites overwhelming value work as well. In fact, Dr. Angela Rachidi, another of our visiting fellows, reminded us that 80% of Wisconsinites think able-bodied people should work in exchange for welfare benefits.
Seems like common sense, doesn’t it? Not for the ones who have been in Madison too long. Rachidi’s paper on FoodShare — formerly food stamps — found that our leaders’ longstanding habit of waiving work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependent children has led to 56,000 more Wisconsinites on FoodShare — all of whom would benefit from training or jobs that lead to a better, more productive life. We’re committed to doing something about that — pushing for legislation that requires healthy people to work or learn a skill in exchange for government help.
Teacher quality and retention: Badger Institute priority No. 4
According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, school district surveys show that there are few applications for filling vacancies in almost all teaching areas. The surveys found that “districts commonly relied on strategies such as employing substitutes, hiring teachers on a one-year stipulated license, and hiring teachers below preferred standards.” Indeed, nearly every school we speak with tells us they can’t find or keep enough quality teachers — a problem leading to illiteracy, low math ability, failures of character education, and fewer seats in quality choice and charter schools. It’s a problem crying out of a solution that appeals to people on both sides of the political aisle.
Wisconsin can prosper
Like it or not, we live in a purple state where our governor and legislative leaders have very different views of the world — and lots of motivation during campaigns to malign the other side. The tough part is governing, finding a vision that can placate the extremes but really and truly help the ones in the middle — those who just want a decent place they can call their own in a good neighborhood, a state where they can work and their kids can thrive.
Wisconsin can prosper again, and so can all Wisconsinites. There’s a way forward. Our commitment here at the Institute is to make it reality in 2025. We hope politicians of all stripes share that vision.
Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute. This essay has been submitted as public comment to Gov. Tony Evers’ listening process.
Any use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written permission. To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute President Mike Nichols at [email protected] or 262-389-8239.
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