Transforming Lives with Housing – Rep. Rivera-Wagner (Hour 2)

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On location, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

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Good afternoon, everybody, title of all along Mr. Aaron Zomers on the board.

It is Wednesday, October 1st, 2025.

It is a great day to be in Wisconsinite and it is pump day.

There you go.

Day as a matter of fact, we are live here on location in beautiful Seanal, Wisconsin.

just about a half an hour or so drive west of Green Bay.

Glad to have you along here on a Wednesday.

Many thanks to Pat Crichtlow of Mornings and Pat Crichtlow and Trig V. Olsen of the Lincoln Project for being with us an hour.

Number one, always great to catch up, talk a little sports, talk a little news with two of our great friends coming up in this hour.

Do not miss it.

Gonna want to stick around.

After the farm news update at the bottom of the hour, whatever our great legislate, well, at least in my opinion, great legislators of this part of the state, northeast Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Representative, Ahmad Rivera Wagner.

Now, here's a guy who worked for the mayor of Green Bay and then got himself elected to the state assembly.

He's been on the program before.

We've been over there in Green Bay when he's joined us live there in the studio.

And here's a guy I love having him.

because he addresses problems, issues, challenges in our state, but he doesn't complain about it.

In my opinion, a big, big difference.

There are people that complain about things going on, and then there are people that just talk about and say, hey, here's an issue, but here's where I think we can solve it or address it.

And so we're going to be talking about housing.

I think it doesn't matter whether you're in AMRE or whether you're in Hayward or Milwaukee.

Madison Richland Center, Wausau.

Housing and the struggles to find affordable housing are issues across the state.

Representative Rivera-Wagner is going to be here to tell us about his piece of legislation that will begin to address it.

Looking forward to that conversation.

Going to give you a chance to win fabulous cash and prizes in our green and gold text win contest here in a minute and also our what's worse category coming up as well.

But before we leave the newsy news portion of what we did last half hour there last yeah with trig v i guess on this military meeting yesterday at quantico virginia outside of washington dc 800 or so flag officers generals the finest of the finest of our leaders of our military flowing in from around the world taking off of their active duty posts to be flowing in for essentially a political

pep rally and a talking to by the secretary of defense.

It's still secretary of defense officially, even though they want to call it secretary of war.

Pete Hankseth, of course, for a weekend Fox weekend, a television host and the president of the United States, former star of The Apprentice on NBC.

And this whole notion that where Secretary Hankseth said,

If you have a sinking feeling inside as you hear these things, then resign.

And then Trump quote unquote jokes about, hey, if you can walk out if you want, but you're going to sacrifice your rank and your pay.

I don't think they're necessarily joking around.

And I want to please a couple of a couple of cuts here for you.

First of all, and again, this is one of the most.

disturbing cuts to me.

This is President Trump essentially declaring war from within the United States yesterday at Quantico, Virginia.

What they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they're very unsafe places.

And we're going to straighten them out one by one.

And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room.

That's a war, too.

It's a war from within, controlling the physical territory of her.

Border is essential to national security.

We can't let these people in

a War from within The president United States sitting president of the United States commander of chief telling his leaders of his military Our top military concerns are no longer China Russia Iran other bad actors of the world It's our fellow Americans And I find that chilling

and to understate it concerning.

Let's go and listen to one of the generals that was under attack yesterday by Pete Hegseth, former Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley, one of the most decorated, most experienced, saw some of those, the most combat tour, not the most, but some of the most, some of the most, largest amount of

active-duty deployment in the theater of war.

Former four-star general, former Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley, this is what he said as he left the Joint Chiefs of Staff and addressed the troops and other leaders here a couple of years ago or a year or so ago when he left office.

We don't take an oath to a country.

We don't take an oath to a tribe.

We don't take an oath to a religion.

We don't take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator.

And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator.

We don't take an oath to an individual.

We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that it's America and we're willing to die to protect it.

Those values and ideas are contained within the Constitution of the United States of America.

which is the moral North Star for all of us who have the privilege of wearing the cloth of our nation.

It is that document that all of us in uniform swear to protect and defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Those who sacrifice themselves on the altar of freedom in the last two and a half centuries of this country must not have done so in vain.

The millions wounded

in our nation's wars did not sacrifice their limbs and shed their blood to see this great experiment democracy perish from this earth no we the american people we the american military must never turn our back on those

it kind of ends abruptly it's a they have posted on tiktok with that music behind it but uh you get the point

As I've said this program before I never served I never put the uniform on I have the distinct honor and pleasure of working with those who did during my time working for a congressman clue doing military affairs issues No one respects veterans more than me and having the opportunity to be with some of these families who lost individuals be with families and veterans who were injured in in combat and I would hope that

as we go to the polls, the midterms next year, that we keep these things in mind.

If you served, if you're currently serving, if you have family or friends that served, remember those words of General Milley, someone who served, that our men and women that wear the uniform take an oath to a constitution to the American ideal.

They don't take an oath to an individual, a dictator, and in General Milley's words.

I want to be dictator.

It's 14 minutes now, past the hour of three o'clock.

Time once again to play Civic Media's green and gold text to win multi-state contest.

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to Green Bay versus Minnesota.

It's a Green Bay home game on November 23rd, 2025 at noon.

Plus, you get a gas card to get you to the game.

Not sure to get you home, but we'll get you to the game.

It has a value of $1,550.

Green Bay is a lovely place to camp out, especially in November.

Anyway,

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I'm going to give you the word of the hour.

Text the following word right now.

The word is stadium.

Stadium.

and the spelling counts, so listen carefully.

The word is spelled, stadium is S as in Sam, T as in Todd, A as in Apple, D as in David, I as in Igloo, U as in Umbrella, and M as in Mary.

Stadium, S-T-A-D-I-U-M.

Stadium is the word.

You have until four o'clock to town.

We're going to come in last, by the way, this time is ours.

Probably.

Stadium.

That's the word I have until four o'clock.

Play along.

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Text to win multi-state contest.

Good luck.

Now the only reason I said that is because I find that to be a difficult word.

Do you agree, Zomers?

Yeah, it's more difficult than some like I'm not gonna say other words, but there are words we've had that are like four letters and really easy to spell, for example.

Yeah.

All you have until four o'clock.

Stadium is the word to text in right now in the Seven Media app for our green and gold text-to-win multi-state contest.

it's 17 now past the hour three o'clock time once again for what's worse let's go time once again for what's worse on this portion nothing to give away no prize money involved but in the other portion there is anyway

You can have your voice heard across all 10 news talk and sports stations of the Civic Media radio network.

We're here in beautiful Green Bay outside of the spectacular fall day.

So glad to have you along.

And you don't need a lamp where we're at outside, but the days are starting to get a little bit shorter in terms of daylight, right?

And so category today, category for what's worse, overhead lighting or lamps.

overhead lighting or lamps 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 overhead lighting or lamps what's worse also text us on the civic media app download it on your Apple or Android device and text in or call

Let's go to the phone lines back of the old RC in the driftless.

I'll be there this weekend whizzler on the line on W R C E whizzler overhead lighting or lamps.

What's worse?

What's worse?

Alright, well, first let me start to talk with Todd.

You know the word of the day it when you start texting it already spells it.

Anyway, really, I think lamp.

All right

You've given us a lot of

information here.

So first of all is

when you

start when you start texting it it Automatically spells it for you.

Yes, but you do not have to do that.

I Didn't know but thank you.

No, thank

you.

No one tells me these things.

I

Really

should start going to the meetings So you think that lamps are

worse

Lamps are worse, okay?

When you're in the house and you know, it is dark and the lamps aren't So bright it doesn't like the whole room.

Yeah, when you get up to look for something like okay, we have a new puppy Doctors might show up.

You don't see them if there's just lamp

Whistler, you've outdone yourself!

Alright!

Whistler says be careful the dog turns, turn on the overhead lights.

We'll come back from shot-out after this.

What's worse, overhead lighting or lamps.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

You're listening to the All Balls show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Yeah,

Dana on the cross, I think you're right.

I think it's just

auto-correct.

That's fantastic.

I love everything about that car.

show live on location from Shawna, Wisconsin.

It's a beautiful autumn fall day here.

Hope it is where you're at as well across the state of Wisconsin.

The weather is supposed to continue to be pretty nice through at least part of the weekend where it's going to get a little more windy, say, and a little cooler.

So enjoy it while we can here.

I'm glad to have you along here on the Civic Media Writing Network.

Now, 23 minutes past the hour of three o'clock at the just after the bottom of the hour.

State Representative Amon Rivera-Wagner in talking about the housing and shortage, but right now a little fun and games.

What's worse, overhead lighting or lamps overhead lighting or lamps 855-752-4842-855-752-4842.

And right before the break there, we had Whistler, uh, on from RC, listening to us on WRCE, saying, saying that when you, this is a separate thing on the text to win contest, the green and gold multi-state text to win contest, which incidentally the word this hour is stadium, stadium is the word.

He said, well, when you start texting it, it fills it in.

Now, I didn't know, I thought, well, maybe I missed a meeting.

as I occasionally do, but no, Dana in La Crosse, listening to us up there at LCX, right?

WLCX in La Crosse says, Whizzler's autocorrect is spelling the word for him.

Yeah, it's autocorrect slash autocomplete.

Autocomplete.

But I

think it's still worth spelling out the words because I'm sure you do.

I'd still worth spelling out the words because we might have confusion with similar sounding ones.

In this case with stadium not a whole lot of words sound exactly like stadium, but not

exactly But but you never know you never know John listening to us on WMDX and Edgerton says voice text Helps as well.

I've done that before because I'm not a great speller and so you have voice text I've done that before Cindy listening on WXCO in beautiful wasa home of Chad Holmes and Bull Falls radio Cindy up there in wasa is a knitter

that's fantastic she says as a knitter overhead lighting overhead lighting is the worst when you're working with tiny needles and dark yarn for fancy stitches overhead lighting can be difficult to work with i've been known to wear a light around my neck

to see detailed work.

Well, that's cool because you've got those lamps

now by

the headlamp and it goes.

It can look right on to what you're doing.

So that's fantastic.

What's worse, overhead lighting or lamps, 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

Just looking down here, looking at a couple more of these entries here on Facebook.

Heather, watching in beautiful Eau Claire, Wisconsin on Facebook says, for a short person like me, overhead lighting is worse.

Lamps are easier to change the bulb, plus the buzz of overhead lights are super annoying.

Well, that could be true, right?

Although she says, I agree with Whistler, harder to see with lamps.

Now I'm conflicted.

Yeah.

Zomers, what do you think overhead lamps overhead lighting or lamps what's worse?

I don't know.

I think lamps are worse just because really It's no secret to anyone who's watched the show for some time my eyes are crap They're just they just suck and not only is my vision bad my night vision is terrible and Lamps just aren't they just don't cut it.

They're not bright enough I know a lot of people don't like you know daylight bulbs or LED lights because they're so bright

They helped me so much.

Like an incandescent or incandescent coloration.

It's just hard for me to see and be able to read things and whatever.

And so I know it's because of my old man eyes, but I think I'm sorry.

You're 26 years old.

Yes,

but I do have old man eyes.

All right, very good.

Very good.

What do you think?

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2, overhead lighting.

or lamps.

I'm kind of mixed on this, but I think if I had to choose one, I would say overhead lighting is worse simply because I like I like some mood lighting.

And and if it's too bright, I don't know.

I just think it I get what you're saying if you're going to read or whatever.

But I, you know, a nice good lamp.

That's the other thing, too.

You would need a good lamp where it's kind of directly on what you're reading or what you're working on.

I think that's nice or a room in the evening with with nice light lights or lamps.

I think of this.

What I don't like to be very judgmental is I call the cloud lights like you go into a kitchen and it's just like a big, you know, oval shaped and it's just all the plastic and tube lighting.

It's just reminds like school lighting or something.

I don't know.

I don't I just said that for me is too bright.

Yeah, and I do agree with your sister for lights that like a fluorescent light anything with the humming tubes It's got to go but when you have LED bulbs, they're

very old I don't know that that but he elapsed hum anymore.

Do they all

right?

Well, she mentioned overhead lighting like if you're in an office building that has the fluorescent tubes they can hum and You don't always hear it, but sometimes you do and then it's very annoying

He don't want a Hummer for your lamp.

Anyway, Matt Emilton, listening on WMDX says overhead is worse as you're stuck with it once installed as lamps are adjustable.

Now that's

a great

point.

Said much better than I did.

Much worse to sink.

I think that's a great point, Matt.

Well, because you can move lamps around, you can you can do different things.

But once you have a big overhead lamp on the ceiling, kind of hard to to undo it.

Uh, all right, that's the uh, that's what's worse for today.

We'll come back with a brand new edition of what's worse tomorrow as well.

Don't forget we're right in the middle of our green and gold text to win multi-state contest.

The word this hour to text in via the civic media app is stadium s t a d i u m is in mary.

The word is stadium

texted in right now on the Civic Media app to be eligible for our green and gold multi-state text-to-win context.

We are always a winner when we're joined by State Representative Rod Rivera-Wagner.

He is bringing some pieces of legislation to address the housing shortage in Wisconsin.

We'll find out all about it on the other side.

Stay tuned now for Pam Yankee and the Fire Report on the Civic Media radio network.

pursuing truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the Toddleball show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

We are live on location in beautiful Shawnaw, Wisconsin, which is about 30 minutes or so west of Green Bay, where our next guest is coming to us from.

But quickly before we do that reminder, we're in the middle of our green and gold multi state text to win contest.

The word this hour is stadium.

stadium.

S T A D I U M. Text it right now.

You have until four o'clock to do so to win fabulous cash and prizes and to club level indoor seats to Green Bay versus Minnesota on November 23rd.

Again, the word is stadium.

You could text it on the civic media app housing.

It doesn't matter whether you're here in Seanal or 30 miles to our East in Green Bay or Southwest Wisconsin or Milwaukee.

Madison, wherever we go, wherever we take this show, people tell us the same thing.

Todd, there's a lack of it.

And B, it's not affordable for everyone.

And what are we going to do about it?

Our next guest is one of the great people we have on this show.

He always brings us solutions.

He is State Representative Ahmad Rivera-Wagner, who is joining us from his district over in the Green Bay Area.

Representative Ahmad Rivera-Wagner, thank you so much for being here.

How are you?

I'm doing great,

go Pat, go.

And what a great gift for the Packers versus Minnesota.

Talk about a joyful rivalry.

That's

a

great, I'm jealous of whoever gets that

prize.

Absolutely, absolutely.

You're still good natured.

And God love you for actually listening to the show a little bit because as you came on in the break, you gave us your answer.

And I think this goes right into the issue of housing are what's worse today.

category was.

overhead lighting or lamps, overhead lighting or lamps.

So, uh, representative, what's worse?

Uh, I want to say lamps, uh, you know, you can survive a house with, uh, without lamps, but you can't survive in without overhead lighting and lamps just might be the wrong style, the wrong lamp shade.

There's a lot of work that goes into maintaining a good lamp vibe in the house that I don't have the skill or the talent to provide.

I like that utilitarian, easy action.

as overhead light.

So I'm a pro overhead light person, and I might not be as cool enough to handle the lamp culture.

I love that.

We appreciate you giving us an answer.

That's fantastic.

Well, representative, you can't have overhead lighting or lamps really if you don't have a place to live.

And

for so many Wisconsinites,

Either A, they're facing non-housing situations.

They're under housed.

They're living with friends and family.

But many folks are saying, A, I don't think I'll ever be able to own my own home.

And even others are saying, I can't really afford with costs of rent going up to get a decent apartment.

And we hear this all over the state.

And what I love about the way that you have what you brought to the legislature, in my opinion, is your solution based person.

And so tell us a little bit about the what you've heard from your constituents in the Green Bay area on housing and this piece of legislation that you're proposing to help address it.

So one of the things I've talked to you all before is that Green Bay in 2022 was considered the number one place to live in the United States by US News and World Report.

And one of the reasons it did that was access to home ownership was still a deep possibility here in Green Bay that if you wanted to build a family or just wanted to be in a relationship and be a Packers fan, however you wanted to live, you could show up in this community and be able to make that affordable.

That is becoming harder and harder.

In Brown County, we have something called ALIS, which is asset limited income constrained, which basically means that every single person we have less than 2% unemployment is working.

And despite being able to work, one in three families that are ALIS cannot actually afford to go into home ownership.

That is drastically different than it was 10 years ago, five years ago, and particularly a generation ago.

And so we need that.

We need to make sure that we are focusing on building housing at every income level.

And here's what's interesting about housing.

It does not respect geographic boundaries.

It's this crisis.

And it does not respect the partisan dynamics that may exist in the state legislature.

It is affecting all of us, rural and urban, small and large, south and north, all over the state.

And so I'm deeply excited about this proposal because this is the number one issue I heard about in my community still to this day.

We want to be able to either move into our home, the first one ever, or we are aging in place and we are young at heart, but we don't need a 3,300 square foot house.

We want to get an apartment in downtown Green Bay.

And because we do not have the supply that we need at the rates that we need them, it's harder for everyone across the age spectrum and income spectrum.

And so I'm excited about this bill because what it does is

basically expands the Habitat for Humanity map model.

For those who don't know what Habitat for Humanity is, it's an organization that partners with local municipalities.

They donate the land and perfect strangers, people that you don't ask who they voted for, what they believe, but they want to get something done.

Actually come together, build a home and that home is given to a family that qualifies.

My family was one of those families.

So we, the house my mom currently lives in,

uh is a house that I built with perfect strangers uh and she still lives here to this day and changed my life.

We went from being homeless for most of my uh young life to being homeowners and that kid ended up becoming the state rep uh from uh Green Bay and so I know the power that housing can play in people's lives and this bill

not only creates that, it's modeled on that.

And the quickest and simplest version is it basically creates a zero interest loan for first time home buyers to be able to get a house.

We do something fancy called the second mortgage, but it basically gives the capacity for us to be able to go up to 100% of the median income of any community.

And that means for the first time, this program will make allow up to middle class families, actually a pathway to home ownership, which is so desperately needed.

We're talking with the state representative Ahmad Rivera Wagner from the Green Bay area He is coming to his live via stream yard and talking about this new piece of legislation in regards to housing across the state representative a couple of things that struck me a Isn't it both sad, but also gives us a great opportunity that Under housed and unhoused people

It's one of the few things that binds us together right now in this weird political environment.

As you just said, it doesn't matter whether you live in a larger city or the most rural Wisconsin.

So many people are having the exact same or similar issues of housing, but it gives us this opportunity, especially when we have leaders like you who say, OK, let's set aside all these things we don't agree on for a minute.

And how can we work together on something we do agree on?

So I want to start there, if we could, about your forging relationships, like political relationships with people that might not be natural political allies, and who have you reached across the aisle and worked with on this issue?

So

I'm really glad you asked that because what's really beautiful is this is a bipartisan piece of legislation.

I worked with folks like Rep Armstrong, who our districts couldn't look any different.

They asked for different things culturally.

They, one's more suburban slash rural, one is urban and more racially diverse.

But where we got together way at the beginning of the session is I told people I was passionate about housing.

And in particular, as someone that experienced homelessness, I know the power this can do in people's lives.

And that resonated with the representative and a coalition of other folks.

And we reached out to Habitat and Habitat reached out to some stakeholders and said, what could we do together?

if the goal was to actually get more housing and get more people into housing.

We didn't ask about other bills, we didn't talk about healthcare, we didn't talk about political violence, we didn't talk about democracy.

We said, what would it look like if we all just focused on...

making it more possible for more people to have housing.

And over six months, we worked together on this legislation that truly is progressive and bipartisan, which I know in this moment seems not possible.

But here we are having people come together across political divides, geographic divides, working together to actually put something on paper that just isn't incremental.

This program has never existed.

And so to me, what I'm proud of is that when you center the actual experiences of your district, not your political parties, not the fights that we're willing to have on every other issue, but the things that people need, there's a lot more alignment and possibility when the centerpiece.

I joke with everyone.

I didn't become all of a sudden more moderate.

I didn't become less democratic.

I didn't become more Republican.

The values of making sure more people got housed was something that transcended the boundaries that we put up in other ways.

And so I'm incredibly thankful.

There was a hearing on this on Tuesday.

There was people who spoke for it from.

all different backgrounds.

It's going to be voted on on next Tuesday.

So not only did it, we bring something that was bipartisan and really spoke to a lot of people.

It's moving at lightning speed.

Frankly, even I am shocked at how well it's going.

I

hope it brings eternal.

I don't mean to interrupt, but but again, I just want to make sure people that are listening right now across the state, we're speaking with the representative for Vera Wagner from Green Bay.

This actually seems to have a chance to have a vote on the full assembly floor, a bipartisan bill, which we just have gotten used to say, well, that'll never happen.

And so this seems to have a real chance of passing.

Is that correct?

Not only a real chance of passing, I believe it's on the docket for next Tuesday.

And so not only is it on the floor of the assembly, it most likely will pass with bipartisan support.

And so it truly is, you know, I'm humbled that.

talking about my homelessness could have led to a conversation that led to a possibility for people who experience that, but even for everyday people who shouldn't have to experience homelessness but just want the dream of home ownership is really just refreshing that that could resonate across this moment in political division, that that could bring us together.

And I always tell people,

I'll fight

Rep Armstrong on some other issues.

That day we're gonna have some debates on some other issues where

We're not going to be on the same side, but on this issue, we are aligned.

I just want to say congratulations as someone who spent a lot of years working in the building as they stay in the state capital.

And I hope people are listening across the state how rare this is.

A, you're a freshman legislator.

Yes, your first term.

B, you're in the minority party because you're a Democrat and Republicans control the state assembly.

And but you've had the legislative maturity just to do do what you just said, which is I'm willing to find solutions today and have other battles that my opponents are politically tomorrow, but I'm willing to find real solutions and get things passed.

That is extraordinary.

It was rare when I was in the building.

It's almost unheard of today.

And I congratulate you and I congratulate Representative Armstrong.

And quite frankly, I don't do this often, but kudos to

Speaker of us for allowing this to go to the floor and having the common sense to to reach across the aisle and get something done We're speaking with the representative of Rivera Wagner from from his district in Green Bay, Wisconsin a couple minutes left and we'll come back and get more into this but get us started representative one of the things that that I found

just hit me when you're talking about your bill on homelessness.

My parents were divorced when I was really young and my mom was a single mom.

And I remember she, at the time, was back in the 80s, trying to get a little bit of help.

and they said no no no unless you because there was a small amount of savings my sister and I for our college fund and basically you have to get rid of your your couple of thousand dollars you have for your kids uh education in order to get any government assistance here now if i'm understanding your bill correctly keep me honest this is saying that look even if you don't have and nothing wrong with being you know completely you know really down on in a poverty type situation but you can be from what

something they call a middle class and still be eligible for this bill.

Is that correct?

100%.

And I think

that's

such a. And the music tells me that I've talked too long.

So we got that was our tease.

Come back on the other side.

Representative Rivera Wagner will keep me honest and give us the details of this great bill on helping address the housing situation in Wisconsin.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

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Beautiful that's the weather forecast and then Mike Clemens our great sports reporter with he'll be in talking about the Packers of a bye week.

So that's good They'll recoup after that lost down in in Dallas speaking of the green and gold the the word until four o'clock in our multi-state text-to-win contest to the green and gold text-to-win contest the word this hour stadium stadium

is the word text that until four o'clock.

The word stadium on the civic media app.

And then after Clemens in a sports report, you've got Maggie Dawn, the Maggie Dawn show.

She'll have another word.

And during her show between four and six and the great Pete Schwabba coming to you live from Green Bay with Night Light Hill also have another word of the green and gold text to win contest between six and eight o'clock.

So be in tune for all those programs.

Okay, last to get to it is short time to get there.

We're speaking with a state representative.

from his Green Bay district about 30 miles to our east.

Always great to have you here representative talking about your bipartisan bill.

Gonna go to the floor.

Hopefully for a vote next week.

Addressing housing Heather on the Facebook line here watching, you know, Claire about your bills.

She says 100% the middle needs support as well.

I love this conversation.

Our 23 year old does not believe she'll be able to be a homeowner.

It makes me so sad and she then says you are a rockstone.

We're Rivera Wagner.

Thanks for all of your work.

Tell us if you kids are sick because I want to get to this phone call.

This bill is not just nothing wrong with being at the low end of income or poverty, but this is a bill that potentially reaches a broad swath of people representative.

Exactly.

One of the things that happened, and you were so articulate about this during the break, and right before, is that too many families often have this moment of struggle.

This is something we all come relate to.

And so it's easy to fall in and out of the middle class.

It's easy to not be poor for one month and be poor the next.

And

too often the way that we create bills, they do something called means testing or cliff effects.

It means that you have to have the most series of qualifications.

You have to be the

of the poor or a particular specific type of, you can't have any assets, or you can't qualify for this program, or you qualify for the program at one point, but all of a sudden you get a good job and a raise, and then you can get down to the program.

What's really nice about this bill is we said,

100% of the area median income.

That means the most middle income and below can benefit from this program.

And why that makes a difference?

We have 23 year olds as your commenter made who are still living in their family's homes.

They are

working.

They're good people.

They are trying to make it work, but they cannot get the kind of programming zero interest loans that are possible to the

only

hyper wealthy people in this country.

And so imagine this 23 year old now with a good job working hard because of this program will be able to get into home ownership for the first time in their lives.

That has, we just don't typically have that for this broad swath of the community.

And that's why I'm so proud.

It's not only bipartisan.

It is one of the most expansive options that we have for first time home buyers in recent memory.

And that's how we are going to solve our economic crisis by supporting

reporting the many, not the few on any extreme, whether you're only really poor or you're a billionaire.

Those should not be how our government works, whether they're the only people we work towards.

We have to create a world where 80% of people or most of that people can actually get access to the support they need from their government and government should be a force for good.

Yeah, I love every part of this bipartisan bill.

Let's go quickly to the phone line.

Ollie, listening up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Ollie, if you could get it in quickly, please.

They had a question about elderly housing.

Please go ahead.

Yes, I do.

Just a comment that if there were more affordable housing for elderly who generally are handicapped, they would love to be able to get rid of their bigger homes, the family homes, that they can't necessarily afford to transfer to handicapped accessible.

Therefore, opening a family home for a younger couple and being able to be insecure in an apartment that's handicapped that they can afford.

I

appreciate the call, Ali.

About a minute left here, Representative.

Go ahead.

The quick version is she's identifying a very key issue that too often when we don't have enough supply and housing, that actually is both a trickle up and trickle down effect, meaning if we don't have enough apartments, mixed income apartments, we can have those who are young at heart, who are trying to transition to smaller places, free up the houses that could be used for first time home buyers, starter homes, et cetera.

And so this is a reason why we need more supply.

And I did add an amendment to this bill that would actually help create

low interest rates for developers to build you exactly what she's talking about, which is build more supply so that we can get people moving through the market the way they used to and create options for everybody.

I think this is amazing.

Again, I

Please come back on and talk about this as this bill progresses.

I hope that people, because assuming it passes, the assembly has to pass the Senate as well.

So please, everybody who's listening across this state, call your state legislator.

What's the bill number?

Do you have it?

I don't actually do

that in front of

me, but it's

revolving loan fund.

First time home buyer mortgage fund.

All right, first time home buyer mortgage fund and sponsored by Representative Ahmaud Rivera Wagner.

Call your state legislator.

Tell them to vote for this bill because it's part of what makes Wisconsin great.

Congratulations on this representative.

I wish you all the best.

Thank you for doing the Lord's work.

Thanks for doing Wisconsin's work because these are the kinds of things that will actually make a difference.

Thank you so much.

And it's AB

454, assembly bill 454.

And thank you so much for having me on and having this really important conversation.

Our pleasure.

Anytime.

You always have a place here.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate you.

Have a great day.

And also many thanks to Trig V. Olsen and Pat Critello for being on Zoomers for doing great work back at the Old World Headquarters.

We'll see you once again tomorrow from Seanal right here in beautiful Northeast Wisconsin.

Stay tuned.

Maggie Dawn is next.

Whatever you're fighting for, whatever you believe in, do not give up.

Keep banging your drum.

We'll see you tomorrow.

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