THU AM News: Housing, child care top affordability challenges going into next legislative session; Van Orden accuses USDA of abandoning WI poultry farmers

November 21, 2024

— The head of Forward Analytics says limited housing availability and the high cost of child care are top affordability challenges as lawmakers gear up for the next legislative session.

Economist and researcher Dale Knapp discussed these and other topics during a recent Newsmakers interview on WisconsinEye, focused on potential areas of legislative action in the coming years. Forward Analytics is the research-focused division of the Wisconsin Counties Association.

The interview was recorded before the Evers administration yesterday projected the state will finish the 2023-2025 budget with a $4 billion budget surplus, above the $3.5 billion that was previously expected.

Knapp touched on the possibility of state policymakers leveraging the surplus for tax relief, noting property tax reductions “might have the biggest chance” to get bipartisan support.

“A tax cut can provide a little bit of money in people’s pockets, so that could help,” he said, adding “the bigger issues in terms of household finance, I think of the cost of child care, I think of the cost of buying a house, those kinds of things that the state can help address to some degree.”

For a family with two children, the cost of obtaining child care can exceed one-third of annual income, Knapp noted. He added the market for these services is largely young couples who are just getting started in their career and often don’t have much money. But at the same time, child care workers are “some of the lowest paid workers” in the state.

“So it’s this real challenge, that I think is a case of the private market, in and of itself, can’t solve this,” he said. “A lot of times, we want the market to solve this, but I think this is one case where in some form, the public sector has to come in and help to some degree.”

Knapp said one solution, though likely an unpopular one, would be for the state’s K-12 school system to take over child care.

“That would be the extreme of an almost total government takeover, and I don’t think that works. But I think in some ways, there has to be a funding stream for this that comes from the public sector,” he said, adding the child care challenge could be contributing to a decline in labor force participation among women aged 30-45 in Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, Knapp said “I think there’s a good chance we’ll see more” legislative efforts to improve housing availability in the state. He’s previously said the state needs to build between 130,000 and 200,000 more housing units this decade alone, while also making housing more affordable.

“We’re seeing some work at the local level on this; Washington County has been doing a lot on housing and been very successful, and we’re seeing municipalities begin to address this, so I think it’s trickling down and everybody understands that housing is a big issue, and we’ve got to figure that out,” he said.

Watch the video, read an earlier story on housing affordability ideas and see an overview on Washington County’s approach.

See WisPolitics coverage on the new budget surplus projections.

— U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden is accusing the USDA of “abandoning” Wisconsin poultry farmers after a Minnesota company’s bankruptcy allegedly led to 50 farmers and more than 2 million chickens in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa left without feed or processing services.

Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, and eight other federal lawmakers in October sent a letter to USDA leadership expressing “deep concern” about the agency’s grant and loan process for meat and poultry processors.

The letter noted Pure Prairie Poultry filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September and shut down its Iowa plant in early October, after previously receiving a guaranteed loan of $38.7 million and a grant for $6.9 million from USDA programs in 2022. It cites the company’s bankruptcy court filings showing liabilities between $100 million and $500 million, and between $50 million and $100 million in assets.

Plus, the company projected a negative cash flow of $1.8 million per week over the following six weeks in late September, and its suppliers report not being paid “for months.” The letter’s authors said they “remain deeply concerned about the lack of oversight USDA has provided” in this case.

The letter included a series of questions about the USDA’s knowledge of Pure Prairie Poultry’s financial situation, how it considers previous bankruptcy filings when awarding loans and grants, what the USDA has done to help affected producers and more. The lawmakers had requested responses by Nov. 8.

In a statement yesterday, Van Orden said “the silence from the USDA is deafening” and said “no federal agency will go unchecked for a failure of this magnitude.”

“Secretary Vilsack is not only ignoring Members of Congress but is also telling our small- and medium-sized farmers that they are not worth the time to take the proper corrective measures to ensure this never happens again,” he said.

When asked for comment on Van Orden’s statement, a USDA spokesperson pointed to recent remarks made by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack at a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa. Responding to a question from a reporter on the Pure Prairie Poultry situation, Vilsack said “we’ve received word from producer groups across the board of the necessity of having additional processing capacity, loud and clear” and has worked to expand that capacity.

“This portfolio, we look at all of our loans and a really, really, really small percentage of loans sometimes don’t make it, but the vast majority do. I think it’s in the 95 percent, 97 percent success rate,” he said, adding “I’m hopeful that we find somebody who’s willing to take [the processing plant] over and reopen it, because obviously there’s a need.”

See the release and letter.

— Hunters in Wisconsin bagged 4,285 bears in the fall, marking an increase from last year’s “below-average” total of 2,922 bears killed.

The state Department of Natural Resources this week announced preliminary results for the 2024 bear hunting season, which took place Sept. 4 to Oct. 8. Wisconsin awarded 11,501 bear hunting licenses for this year through the license lottery system.

Randy Johnson, large carnivore specialist with the DNR, says last year’s low hunt total as well as bears entering hibernation in “excellent” condition last fall due to greater food availability led to the increase for this year.

“In 2023, we saw an incredible amount of acorns and other natural food production,” Johnson said in a statement. “This reduced the effectiveness of baits and translated to a historically low harvest. This year, anecdotes from bear hunters and harvest data suggest less natural food availability than last year.”

Bear hunters had a statewide success rate of 37%, the DNR reports, which is above the five-year average of 31%.

The agency says Wisconsin’s bear population is thriving, with about 23,000 bears living in areas across the state.

See the release.

— Marquette University has announced Kimo Ah Yun as its 25th president following a vote by its Board of Trustees.

Ah Yun had been serving as acting president and provost since June 10, and succeeds Michael Lovell, who died June 9 from a rare form of cancer. The announcement notes Ah Yun is the first person of color to lead the university.

“I look forward to continuing to work closely with our faculty, staff, students, alumni and Milwaukee community in our continuous pursuit of excellence, faith, leadership and service,” Ah Yun said in a statement.

See the release.

— Caravel Autism Health announced it’s opening a new clinic in Menominee Falls, offering autism therapy services to patients in the Milwaukee area.

The company now has at least 25 locations across the state, according to its website. A ribbon-cutting will be held tomorrow for the grand opening of the Menominee Falls location.

The clinic will have autism care experts on hand for applied behavior analysis, or ABA therapy, which aims to help young children improve communication and social skills.

One of the main strategies therapists employ is positive reinforcement, providing a reward of some kind in response to a desired behavior. Over time, this framework “leads to meaningful behavior change,” according to an overview from advocacy organization Autism Speaks. Caravel also offers diagnostic services and counseling.

Company CEO Mike Miller notes the company has been operating in Wisconsin for the past 15 years.

“We’re committed to investing in new clinics to bring autism specialists into communities where families have struggled to find expert care,” he said in a statement. “ABA therapy changes lives, and we’re excited to open the doors to another clinic to help children across Waukesha and Washington Counties.”

Joline Mutz, clinic director for Caravel, says the “best possible scenario” for a child diagnosed with autism is getting access to ABA therapy at a young age. The release notes this approach is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC.

“Early access gives them the greatest opportunity to reach their full potential,” Mutz said in the release.

Caravel last year opened a clinic in Franklin, which serves residents of Milwaukee’s southwestern suburbs.

See more in the release.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— The Port Washington-Saukville School District has announced multiple cases of whooping cough among students amid a substantial increase in case numbers statewide.

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