Housing, workforce opportunities take center stage at Waukesha County 2050 event

Housing woes and opportunities, and the need to draw more workers to the region took center stage at BizTimes Media’s Waukesha County 2050 event on Wednesday afternoon at the Brookfield Conference Center.

Panelists Matt Neumann, chief executive officer of Pewaukee-based Neumann Companies; Rachel Bahr, chief executive officer of BreakthrU’s Private Investment Companies, Bill Berrien, chief executive officer of New Berlin-based Pindel Global Precision, and Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow, each gave their take on what they think the county will look like in 2050, using their industry as a lens, and offering actions they believe will be critical to making the county a leader in southeastern Wisconsin and the Midwest in decades to come.

Tech is the future

Bahr, who oversees Xiogenix, a Muskego-based company working in tissue banking and cell & gene therapy industries, told audience members that Waukesha County has real potential for becoming a biotech hub, linking burgeoning biotech industries in Madison and Milwaukee, if leaders are willing to change their views of what manufacturing is, and can be, in the region.

“I believe Waukesha County could be the nexus point between Madison and Milwaukee,” Bahr said, adding that the goal is continuing to create jobs in biotech industries that young professionals want. “To get an internship with our company (is hard). We have to turn away so many people because we just do not have the bandwidth to bring them all in. It’s incredible how many people want to actually stay in the state. So, I’m really encouraged by that. We have, from my perspective, a really good climate to grow business in this area.”

Berrien, whose contract manufacturing company is on the leading edge of modern machining, painted a sunny picture for the future of Waukesha County envisioning an embrace of biotechnologies and artificial intelligence that would bring major innovations to the region, including advancements that would allow people to communicate with animals and make heart disease and strokes a thing of the past.

“Our fellow citizens, once …buffeted by industry reallocations and shifting investments can now play offense and never have to swallow the bitter pill of skill obsolescence again,” said Berrien of the future. “Now as I take you back to April 2024, I realize I a painted a pretty rosy picture of Waukesha County over the next 25 years. Yes, some of my friends have jokingly nicknamed me the Pope of Hope, but I don’t think my optimism is misplaced.”

But we need houses

But as discussions between the panelists took place and spilled out into the reception area where attendees from the region’s leading industries chatted about the topics discussed on the stage, it became evident that workforce housing needs will need to be addressed if the region can expect to attract the workers needed to make Waukesha County a place of technological innovation.

Addressing attendees during the event, Farrow, who has served as Waukesha County Executive for nine years, predicted that Waukesha County’s population will grow from 410,769 today to 481,369 in 2050. But he said that growth isn’t likely to come from births in Waukesha County, but rather attracting more workers to the region.

“We’re not having as many families anymore,” Farrow said. “Right now, in Waukesha County the average household is about 2.4 people. For adults in rental property, it’s about 1.7 people. Those numbers are down significantly from 10 years ago, and we’re going to see them continue to drop. So, we’re going to have to continue to work with the counties around us to look at how we can bring more people in, especially for the workforce. Right now, about 20% of our workforce enters Waukesha County every day from different counties. And we’re going to see that number continue to grow.”

Neumann, a leading home developer in the region, said Waukesha County’s population won’t come anywhere close to topping 480,000 if local leaders don’t address outdated socioeconomic perspectives that keep developers like him from being able to construct the kinds of homes that middle-class homebuyers can afford.

Although the Great Recession is still having hobbling effects on the housing industry, Neumann states that the main reason homes are so expensive in Waukesha County is that the new homes that are being constructed are just too big.

The only way to change course, he said, is for municipalities and local residents to recognize that smaller houses with smaller price tags – those in the $400,000 to $600,000 range as opposed to the homes in the $600,000 to $1 million range – are a priority, and make needed changes to zoning, he said.

“New homes in Dane County cost 3% more than their average existing homes. They’re reasonably affordable. In Waukesha County, they’re 20% more. People can’t afford to buy new homes. Developers can’t afford to develop their home sites. They know they can’t afford to build new homes because they’re just plain too big. It’s that simple. I know there’s a lot of math here, but I’m going to point you to the part that actually matters. Our median household income in Waukesha County is $104,000. That means you can afford a home that’s about $375,000. The average new homes we’re building are $652,000,” Neumann said. “No wonder people can’t afford to live here.”

The solution could be for every employer in Waukesha County doubling their employees pay, Neumann quipped. But in reality, there just needs to be the political will on the part of village, city, and town boards to approve developments that include smaller lots, he said.

“We stand in front of municipalities every single week, and we have these conversations, and they all say, ‘why don’t we just do it differently? And we say, ‘we agree.’ And, they say, ‘great, can you go next door?’ I’m dead serious. … They’ll say, ‘we know how to develop homes for $500,000, but people say we just don’t want that here,’” Neumann said. “We’re in these battles every day in these communities. At the end of the day, we can fix this problem. But it’s a choice, and it starts with the influencers, and the opinion leaders, and the employers, and these communities saying: ‘We can, and we want to do this differently. We want $500,000 homes because that’s what our employee base can afford.”

“The good news is we do still have land left. … We have to support development that works for what our employees, and what our neighbors, and what our friends can afford,” he said.