Housing Program Draws Residents and Workforce to City Center

The Live it Up Wausau program in Wausau, WI, seeks to attract employees to the area and give them reasons to stay.

“This fits under a broad heading of employee-assisted housing or economic development homesteading,” says Christian Schock, the city’s director of planning, community, and economic development. “These are programs that help employees become more rooted in the community. The basic premise is that an employee who is connected to the city or neighborhood is much more inclined to stay than one who isn’t.”

The Live it Up Wausau program offers interest-free loans of up to $10,000 to employees of partner businesses for use toward down payments on local homes. “This compliments whatever traditional financing they have, and makes home buying more affordable, while rooting them better into the neighborhood,” says Schock.

To offset potentially higher renovation costs for older city center homes, employees can borrow up to $15,000, interest free, for historic properties 50 years and older. “And we also forgive the final year of payment if they have made, and documented, physical improvements to the property,” he adds.

Businesses must make a donation to the program’s loan pool in order for their employees to qualify. The city also contributes to the fund, as do several charitable foundations.

Details on the Live It Up Wausau program plus information on downtowns building their own Internet networks, and more appears in the May issue of Downtown Idea Exchange. Click to learn more about Downtown Idea Exchange and other resources for revitalizing downtowns and commercial corridors.

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