you
On this portion of the morning show, we're going to put the spotlight on the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce and joining us is Craig Huth, who is a board member.
Good morning, Craig.
Good morning.
Thank you for having us in.
Good to have you in here and spotlight the chamber.
So how's the summer been going for you at the Richland Locker?
fast.
Same problem everybody else has, but no, it's been a very good summer for us.
Retail's been great.
Community sports been great since we got our new store open a few years ago.
It's just been going very well.
But like I said, just keeps me busy.
And then my son is at that age.
He's in baseball.
We got a little reprieve for a couple of weeks.
And then we start football.
I think the August 3rd I saw in the email last night.
So back at that again, then soccer.
So just
Summer goes fast.
It really does.
It's a good time of life though.
The kids coming up and watching sports and
kids.
It's a lot of fun.
He really enjoys it and it's fun to see his friends and you know that those years go fast.
They
do.
Well, let's talk about the chamber a little bit, Craig.
You know, you're going to be hosting some business after five events coming up, I think, aren't you?
Yeah, they've got one.
Well, I had one in May at the 80 German warehouse went over very well and they have another one in the works, but I don't know for sure that it's set.
So I'm not going to announce where yet because I don't want to.
put the, you know, cart ahead of the horse, but I know they're working on getting another one set up.
And we're always looking for any business that would like to do it.
It's a great way to spotlight your business, you know, local business owners, customers, people can come in, you know, it's at their five kind of casual thing, but you can explain your business, show it off.
You know, maybe you got something new you want to show off.
It's a great way to do it.
We're looking for volunteer businesses would like to do it.
So if anybody out there is interested, please contact the Chamber or any board member, go to RCChamber.org and let us know.
Has the locker done it after five events yet?
Not yet.
So I'm going to have to online that up.
Yeah, I need to.
You have to put the drop
in there for you to do it.
That's fine.
We need to do that sometime
though.
People might not leave though.
There's plenty to eat and
drink.
Yeah, that's true.
Might have to keep them over in the meat section.
Yeah, exactly.
We'll keep us posted on that.
I know you had a spring wine walk.
How did that go for the businesses?
It went very well.
Weather was beautiful.
You know, obviously the weather is key for that event.
But I know it was great.
We had a good time.
We had a great turnout.
You know, we always participated at the locker and we're down a little ways from uptown.
But I mean, most people make the walk down or though some people drive down
But no, it was a great event.
A lot of people were dressed up.
We're also looking to do another one.
The fall, that's even usually a bigger event.
The fall is usually our biggest one.
Which is September 25th.
So if you want to mark your calendars for that Friday September 25th, it's going to be Hawaiian luau theme So everybody's got a Hawaiian shirt somewhere in their closet, you know from a previous job ahead I had a boss that on Fridays casual Friday had to wear Hawaiian shirts So I might have to try to dig that out if it still fits sometimes they shrink once they're hanging in the closet They do
yeah, or or one's wife might throw one away I
think I have one but otherwise I'll have to get a different one But yeah, so it's gonna be Hawaiian luau theme which should be a lot of fun on Friday September 25th
And you have tickets for that usually, don't you?
Yep.
They start going on sale September 1st.
So area businesses, we're going to be selling as well at the locker this year.
So September 1st and you can buy tickets for it.
Sounds good.
Do you still have chamber bucks?
Are those still available for businesses?
Yes.
Yep.
We're going to be doing those again.
That's a great thing for Christmas.
You know, if you're going to buy gift certificates or friends and family are hard to buy for, that's a great idea.
They come, I believe, at $5, $10 and $20 amounts.
We're going to be selling those again.
Obviously, they can only be used at chamber members.
So if any business out there wants to take those or not a chamber member, please let us know.
But we'll be doing those again.
And it's a great idea.
It makes people shop local.
Um, and I don't always really, you know, people don't always realize the things we have in town.
There's a lot more here than people think.
Oh, I got to go to out of town here or there, but I don't force them to look local.
And there's a lot more businesses and things available here.
Forced to use them here.
And it's a great way of, you know,
to showcase the businesses.
Yeah, it definitely is.
And, and I think that's a unique gift too.
You know, it's one that maybe you don't think of right out of the gate for the person that has everything, but everybody needs to shop for this and that and some of
those kind of items.
Yeah, I'd even throw a shameless plug for myself.
You know, I mean, it's hard to buy for, you know, parents or something.
Everybody has to eat, whether it's you buy, you know, and use it at the locker or other places, you know, I mean, there's always something out there you can buy for people in the chamber, you know, pretty much covers it.
There's not businesses to cover everything.
Indeed.
So remember that as you get into the fall and, you know, especially for the
days and whatnot.
The American flags downtown.
They've been nice.
Yes, they look nice.
And the Chamber helped to pay for some of those that went put up.
Yeah, I thought that looked very nice in town, especially this year, the 250th anniversary in the 4th of July.
But yeah, the Chamber helped to do that.
And I think it makes downtown downtown look very nice supporting the country.
Are there some other events that you're getting involved in this year as well?
You'd like to talk about?
Well, we're trying to get set up a couple and work on some educational sessions, but they don't have finalized yet.
But they're looking at getting a person from another area to come in and talk.
So we'll send out more information once we get that set up.
But we're also looking for, you know, anybody to be a local expert example, you know, public speaking, you'd be a great one.
You
know, if you're
one, but you know, things like that, if somebody is good with social media, you know, I'm not that old, but I'm not a technology person either.
And I don't understand AI, I don't do it, but there's a great
You know, it's a great tool for businesses, you know, technology or anything, computer stuff.
So if anybody out there is interested in, you know, hey, I'm really good at this.
I'd love to share my knowledge.
We're looking for people to set up a seminar too to, you know, we could set it up sometime and have people come in and listen to you.
So that would be a seminar for businesses or it would be for community people.
I have both, I believe you could do both, you know, whether it's businesses or the employees, but yeah, learn, you know, even if it's simple, it's computer Excel, you know, I mean, there's, I've taken a class on that, you know, and it's amazing.
You think, you know what, until you, it's, there's a lot more out there or a lot more to it than you know, once you learn it.
And the problem is it always changes too, doesn't it?
Yes.
It seems like once, once I figured out what they changed it, it's just like a cell phone.
You don't want to get a new one, cause then you got to learn it all over again.
We've been talking a little bit about the, the murder mystery, which is going to be going on in, in August, but I know a lot of business
will be involved in that as well, won't they?
Yep, there'll be business involved in that and I think the Chamber is helping sponsor some of that too if I remember right from our meeting.
But yes, that'll be coming up here shortly, so it's hard to believe we're almost in August.
And Pumpkin Fest, right?
Yep, that's in the fall as well.
That'll be, I believe it's right by the courthouse and the Chamber is also helping sponsor some of the fee for the petting zoo, so allow the kids to go decorate pumpkins and then get to see the animals in the petting zoo.
And then, yeah, I got a good chance to support businesses through the year.
And you've got the wine walk in the fall and probably not too far down the road holidays too.
Yes, it's hard to believe, but it's coming fast.
When you look at your business, what's the most popular bratwurst this year?
Probably pineapple teriyaki.
What?
Yep, I know it's a different sounding broth.
When we came out with that, I thought, yeah, you know, but it's, you know, even people who don't like pineapple, that's been for a fresh broth, that's probably the most popular broth.
Otherwise, overall, probably a pre-cooked broth, because people a lot of times do that for outdoor events or something quick, you just brown it and go, but for a flavored broth, pineapple teriyaki, but I think we have about 12, 14 other flavors, but yeah, that's been our most popular one.
It's nice and sweet, it's a good broth.
Brown's up nice.
I'll have to try that.
Yeah, they're surprisingly good.
Sure.
Just the name.
It kind of sounded different, but it's very good.
Does it matter what kind of beer you boil them in there?
Well, everybody has their preference probably on that one, but I don't know for sure.
It's whatever ones you like.
I mean, you see Coors Light and different things like that used, but yep, some people like to boil them in that other just fry them up regular.
You talk about your business.
You've been around what 1939 is that?
And that's the unreal.
And you talk about your, your forefathers, what they would think of the new facility.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, yep.
Grandpa passed away before we got a bill, but my dad got to see it.
Yeah.
So it's been going very well.
I mean, it's just, it's, we're proud to be a third generation business in town, um, except been here since 1939.
It's been a long time.
Um, but everything's going very well.
We're working on hoping in the future to modernize a few more things down the road.
Just gotta pay off debt before you can do the next thing.
And what about, uh, as far as food items, any idea of expanding those lines too?
Just the crew over in the retail building, Ryan and his crew, they do a good job coming out with different flavor marinates.
We do a lot of chicken breast marinated.
I think today even has like a pizza burger he made up that he's got a sample out there you can try so I'm just always trying to come up with new items like that to bring people in and vary it by the Season to you know fall and winter you go more roasts or loins things like that were summer brats and Those things go over more but then you also run the issue you make it and everybody likes and then the season Well, why aren't you making it now?
It's like well, we don't have room to make everything so we kind of do something seasonal But if there's something somebody that we've made they want if they let us know ahead of time we'll make it up for them
So do you try some at home before you put them out to the buying public then?
Usually it's just at work more, but yeah, mix up something.
Yep.
We'll put it off for a sample and see if everybody likes it.
Interesting.
Well, there's never a dull moment.
I don't think it's,
no, we just put in a new smoke out.
So that's been learning curve too.
Yeah.
That's all computerized.
So that's definitely a, it's great.
It's a much faster, much more computerized, but just getting it all dialed in, you know, so we get a product similar to what we had before.
We're working through that yet, but it's going very well.
So there's more of a chance that you're going to get what you thought you were going to get.
I mean, the other was more trial and error.
Wasn't it?
Sometimes.
Yep.
So yeah, the smoke.
I was not, you know, I wanted to start getting the smoking brisket and things like that.
And our other one just was, it was older.
It was 30 years old.
So it's just limited what we could do with a new one.
You know, it's brand new.
I mean, pretty much do anything we want with it.
Just got to have the time and.
Perfect recipes.
We have our radio auction coming up for grace too.
And I know that you guys are good contributors and a lot of people are contributors by getting gift cards and those kinds of things.
And so thank you again for what you guys
do.
Well, I appreciate it.
We appreciate your guys support for the community.
You guys do a lot down here.
Yeah.
And what does it mean to be a chamber member to you and the gang?
Well, I mean, it's, you know, I try to find it.
It's hard to find free time, but it's nice to try to go and give back to community that's been good to myself and our family.
You know, I mean, been here for quite a few years and supported the business.
And hopefully in the chamber event, you know, we are working with the chamber board, you can try to help other businesses or, you know, they need advice on something or if anything we can help out, you know, if there's business out there, you're going to celebrate a new milestone or if you're opening a new business, please let us know.
We'll, you know, we come to a ribbon cutting or they have the social media and they do other advertising to promote it.
If you're, you know, starting something new, we'd love
to help out.
Just anything to help pump businesses in Richland Center.
Definitely.
That's the whole key for the chamber, isn't it?
The whole
goal.
Yes, try to keep everything local and highlight what we have because there's a lot in Richland Center.
So you're a board member and I know it's Christy adds it is the president.
When do you have a changing of the guard or elections or anything like that?
Well, I think Christy has been doing it for a lot of years does an excellent job.
I know she's wanting to kind of step back a little bit, not leave the board or anything, but just step back a little bit.
So I know Craig Woodhouse, I think is going to take over.
It was kind of an election, but I think he just kind of got nominated too.
Is he currently running or running from?
I don't know which way
he's running, but
yeah,
no, I think he's willing to do it.
So I mean, it is a lot of work, you know, outside, you know, you got a regular job, family, then try to do that as well.
And Christie's done a great job through the years as well as the rest of the board, but you know, she deserves a little break too.
She's done it for a lot of years.
And if someone is listening and are interested, you can be like a one person crew, you know, self-employed home businesses too, right?
Exactly.
Anybody can.
And even you don't even have to be a business.
If you're willing to, hey, I'd like to help out with the wine walk, you know, and maybe just help sell tickets the night of, you know, they do anything that way.
We're always looking for help.
Or like I said, anybody that's got an expertise to do a little training seminar on something, any way you want to help out, I mean, benefits the community as a whole, we'll sure take the help.
How often do you meet Craig?
Once a month.
So I think it's the trend to put me on the spot.
Now it's second or third Wednesday of the month.
Okay.
So I think it's August 12th immediately.
It must be the second Wednesday.
We'll keep it posted on any of the after five events.
I know we like to promote those as
well.
I know they've got one of the works, but it wasn't finalized yet.
So I don't want to put it out there.
If something changes, then I'm in trouble.
Next time you come back.
So good deal.
Anything else you'd like to add today, Craig?
No, I just appreciate you guys taking the time and helping promote the local business here in town.
Glad to do so.
Yeah.
Thanks for stopping by.
Yeah.
Well, thank you very much.
Appreciate it, Phil.
Craig Huth, who is a member of the board for the Richland Area Chamber on this portion of the morning show.
Welcome back to the Morning Show Studios here in WRCO country.
Leading off today was Craig Huth batting second.
Craig Woodhouse.
How
are
you doing
Craig?
I'm doing well.
Batting second, you know, I was a two hole batter for Verroqua American Legion.
So I'm used to it now, you know, I never cracked the lead off spot.
That's quite an honor though, because Verroqua Legion has always been competitive.
So oh, we were state champs.
I'm impressed.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But speaking of baseball, you know, little dedication this weekend over in Kaz I hear.
Yes.
Yeah, that was quite the honor.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Total surprise.
So there's the, the Filney radio booth over in Kaz now in
the corner,
in the corner, just the corner,
kind of like back in school.
Yeah.
Hats off to the Kaz people.
I was glad they didn't do a butter sculpture of me because that would have probably.
On a
day like yesterday and today, it wouldn't have lasted.
No, it's definitely steamy out
there today.
Yes, it is.
Well, you are a vice president of Richland Area Chamber and Craig led it off real well talking about all the events going on.
Anything else you'd like to talk about today?
Well, it's a fun time of year at the chamber.
You know, we're right in the, you know, the.
Middle you know and beyond of the summer months so a lot of activities going on you know through the throughout the area over the course of the summer here but.
still a lot coming up to finish off the summer strong here.
So I know Craig talked about some of the events and some of the things that the chamber has going on, but there's still a lot of opportunity for good music in the area, nice entertainment options and events that are coming up.
So just, you know, yeah, I want to put it out there to remind people to take a look around because there's quite a bit going on.
There's events on Wild Hills Winery on Wednesday nights and other nights as well.
Um, and then there's a murder mystery weekend coming up.
Um, I didn't catch if Craig mentioned that or not, but, uh, that the last weekend in August.
So, um, yeah, that was an event that went really well last year and the chamber was, um, helped out with that and, and, uh, was a sponsor for that event and that.
brought a lot of people into town and it sounds like there's good enthusiasm for that as well.
So yeah, we want to support that and make sure that that has a good participation, which I think it will.
Um, but it's a fun interactive way to socialize, walk around downtown, get to meet people.
And, um, yeah, that's a, it's just a really neat, really neat kind of a unique event.
The first one
last year, you know, I happened to see some of the actors downtown and watch them, you know, kind of going back and forth and stop it in for clues.
And, um, boy, that was just a lot of fun just to watch it happen.
it sure was and they had you know got some some actors from the community players theater that were dressed up as actors in the story as the script you know part of the script and so that was a lot of fun for for those actors to get to be able to do that but it was neat you saw people hanging around you know
corners downtown in their, um, fully in character, um, you know, giving clues or maybe misleading, you know, some of the, uh, participants a little bit intentionally, but that was, it was a lot of fun.
There was a good event and so, um, we're happy that that's happening again.
Sounds good.
And then, uh, we're getting in toward some of the fall things coming up.
School will be starting soon and, uh, the seasons change pretty quickly, don't they?
Yeah, they sure do.
Uh, I've seen the, some of the cross country kids out running and I know the football team
been active and you know all of the the sports teams have been active and getting ready for the upcoming school year and that's a fun time I like the the weeks leading up to the beginning of the school year it's a it's kind of a fresh start kind of thing and yeah it's just good to you know get
you know for those things to be going on and kids getting excited hopefully you know to get to get back in there.
But yeah in the early part of the fall there are some some some events coming up boarding house antiques at their garden stage still has a couple shows coming up.
August 14th they're going to have Caravan which is a really fun group of musicians that have played in Richland Center several times over the years.
Kind of a gypsy swing group
So they'll be at the garden stage at the boarding house antiques on August 14th.
And then September 11th at the boarding house is Moon House.
I'm not too familiar with them, but I'd encourage you to check that out and stop over and make a visit.
There's flyers around town and things like that for that event.
So yeah, that's just a really nice casual evening to bring your lawn chair and
it out in the grass and right next to the depot, the Tourism Center depot.
So yeah, encourage that.
And then also coming up, I believe, is one more event at Driftless Music Gardens on Labor Day weekend.
They've got their, I think it's their final event of the season.
So from what I hear, they've had good turnout this year at their
two three-day music festivals.
We're really lucky to be able to have a venue like that right here in Richland County.
And so, yeah, there's still plenty to do.
There is an AD German warehouse open for tours.
And I know every Friday night they have something going on too, don't they?
They do.
They've had some really nice events.
But yeah, I believe every Friday night,
um yeah they've they open up and they have live music and usually some food and and drinks and uh you know some good socializing opportunities there and then they've got um the sunday tours are i think are are coming up again soon too so check that out in advance but i think they're opening up again for the sunday tours so um that's been exciting that's been a really neat venue that uh it's been exciting to see that kind of come alive um
And so, yeah, just want to encourage everyone to go out to those things and visit them.
and the
auditorium the city auditorium
yeah they've got
a new schedule which they they've been kind of telling me they're they're gonna have it all completed here pretty soon but they've got quite a few acts already booked don't
they they do they've got quite a few um i'm aware of some of them but um i know there's a couple more that needed to be added to the calendar um partly because i owe them some information about our silent film festival
Neighborhood Housing Services is going to sponsor three free silent films again this coming fall and in winter season so that'll be out on the calendar soon as well but it's just you know we're really really lucky to have so many great volunteers that have been working on the city auditorium freshening the place up and it just it feels like a you know it's
It's got a new life.
You know, there's some new life and some new energy going on there.
So they will be issuing their calendar event of events soon for the fall and winter season.
So we'll stay tuned for that.
Well, we mentioned NHS, your executive director of NHS.
And can you give us an update?
What's going on here lately?
Oh, there's been a lot going on at NHS.
We're extremely busy.
Uh, it's been a really fun and exciting time to be in the housing world.
And, um, we're really fortunate to have neighborhood housing services of Southwest Wisconsin right here in Richland center.
So, um, for, you know, really 2025 and the, and the first half of 2026 have been very, very busy for us.
Um, we had a, we closed out 20, 25 on a really kind of on a high note with the completion of a new home that we built here in Richland center.
We got someone into that house early in the year and that's been a really good fit.
It was really good for us to be able to build a new house, which we hadn't done for a few years.
Then we finished the year really strong with our owner-occupied rehab programs as well.
That was really good.
That's really a strength of NHS.
It's something that we want to continue, but we are in a period right now where we're between between some funding cycles.
So we're not able to do quite as much right now this month as we'd like to do, but that'll open up again very soon and we'll be doing more with that.
So as part of our strategy of, you know, increasing our impact in the communities, we're taking on kind of an advanced.
partnership model with Southwest CAP, Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Programs, because they have some housing programs.
We have housing programs.
So we got together and said, you know, would we be more effective if we partnered?
And we spent a lot of months, you know, and time talking about what that would look like.
And we came to the conclusion that this is something that we really should do.
We can
Have a greater impact.
We can share expertise.
We can share technical knowledge and experience.
They've got some folks that have been in housing for quite a while there.
We do as well.
So we're working more closely together all the time.
And one of the ways that's come out is a new housing development that we're working on in Lancaster, the city of Lancaster.
So NHS has the same five county service district as Southwest CAP does.
And we came together on this project and it's for a nine unit housing development.
So it's a development where we're putting in the infrastructure.
We're bringing the street up to the city standards.
And we broke round last week on two of the homes and we expect to have those completed early in the fall.
And then we'll make preparations for seven more.
that we will start the excavation and concrete work this fall and then complete those houses next year.
So that was one way, you know, that we were able to partner with Southwest CAP and really take an idea and bring it to fruition.
So we want to do more of that.
Really, and we have goals for this.
NHS built one house in 2025.
We're going to have two done in 2026.
The goal for 27 is 10 to 12.
And then after that, we'll be ramping up to be able to build 20 or more houses a year.
And so that's our plan.
That was really only possible by partnering with another non-profit.
We're fortunate to be in a position where we can do that because we are non-profits.
We're not a developer per se.
We're not a commercial developer, I should say.
So we can mitigate some risk by working together on this.
We can share some of the costs.
share the expertise.
Again, we're in this because the communities that we're talking about need housing and we can do that.
So that's definitely a change and one that it's a challenge that we're up for.
We've really had really great partnerships on this project and going forward we expect that to continue but
We're working with the local builder, whispering Pines builders, um, who's based right out of Richland center here.
And they were the general contractor for the house that we built in Richland center.
And they're our general contractor in Lancaster as well.
Um, but we're also, uh, working very closely with, um, um, Southwest Wisconsin regional planning commission.
They're helping us with the, you know, some of the zoning questions and
you know, helping us with the permitting process and the developers agreement.
They've been really, you know, critical in that.
So really, it's those three agencies coming together to build houses in a space where the commercial developers have kind of been pushed out.
So, yeah, it's super exciting.
It's building homes is fun, but it's
challenging.
It's not easy.
There's a lot of things that can go wrong.
So you just do diligence and you bring in the experts and ask a lot of questions so that we can mitigate risks as much as possible.
And then we're looking here, you know, in Richland Center specifically, we're always looking for
you know, another lot to build on.
So, um, there's a few in town here that we're getting some more information on and, you know, hopefully the right lot will come around.
That's a good fit for us.
And, um, we'd like to, you know, build in at least one more new house here in Richland, Richland center in the, in the coming months.
How does that work,
Craig?
Do you actually go shopping for the lot or does somebody come to NHS and say, Hey, we, we have this, this is a possibility.
How does that work?
Yeah, well, we just kind of keep our eye open, you know, what we notice when we drive around.
But we talk to people at City Hall as well.
You know, they might be clued into a lot that, you know, might be a good fit or not.
Sometimes, you know, there's some it's not as easy as just finding a spot and building on it.
Sometimes there's it's a long it can be a long process to
really identify what is the right lot to build on.
And we have to figure out if it's even available.
We're not in a position where we can really just buy lots outright at market rate and then build on them.
Much like the commercial developers, we're kind of priced out.
And as a non-profit, one of the ways we can do it is by really developing
real partnerships.
So again, we can share some risk, you know, possibly share some of the costs, but, um, you know, we're, we really seek places where we can, um, acquire a lot or, or, or work in, in partnership with the community.
Um, we are doing a four, um, with, we're in, in, in negotiations with a four house unit development in the city of Cuba city.
And in that case, they had four lots that were available.
We're working on this development project together.
And what we're in our agreement with them to this point, how it's working there is that they're allowing us to build on the lots.
However, we will not purchase the lots until the homes are sold.
That way we've reduced
risk and the city has a vested interest in helping us find buyers.
What we're really, you know, the target market really is kind of workforce housing.
You've heard that mentioned, but we want to, we want people that work in the communities to have a good, you know, safe places to live that are also affordable.
And so in that case, we're marketing these ourselves and will be
selling them ourselves in, in, in Cuba city.
Um, and then, you know, when we find the buyers and those are occupied, then we're purchasing the lots, you know, from the city upon sale.
And that's a good way.
Um, forever, all partners to have, you know, some, some kind of skin in the game.
You've partnered with, uh, as you mentioned, uh, Southwest cap, does that kind of expand your area a little bit when you partner with them or does it remain kind of the same Craig?
Um,
Yes and no.
We both have the same five county service district.
So that alone, just from a structural kind of perspective, that made it a little bit easier.
However, you know, NHS and Southwest CAP can do work outside of that five county service district.
So we've talked with some communities that are outside of those five counties and our service district is Richland, Grant, Iowa, Lafayette, and Green counties.
But over the years, NHS has done work in Salk County and Vernon County.
Um, Crawford County, Monroe, um, several counties around here, but we just need to communicate with those communities, you know, and, and let them know about our intentions and, and make sure that they, um, you know, that everyone's in agreement that it's something that it's a good, a good model.
So basically the, the, the answer to your question is, um, we're not really increasing the service district.
but we are increasing the capacity to do more work by bringing in more experts, you know, and kind of doubling the people power.
And then there's, you know, you know, home construction is, it takes a lot of different skill sets.
And there are skill sets in both of those offices that now we can share.
And so we've got some great,
Housing experts here.
There's some really good housing experts at Southwest cap by working together Now we're all kind of on the same team as far as the housing world goes.
So Yeah, that's a it's exciting.
So again, you know the the without this partnership this the nine houses and Lancaster Wouldn't be being built without this partnership the proposal for four
Homes in Cuba City wouldn't be being built.
So we know by working together That's 15 homes right there And that's that's significant.
So
what is the housing market like now because we hear all these reports?
You know, it's up and down or it's stagnant or whatever and that would have you experienced
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, there's a little there's been a little bit of movement in the market, but you know the the main
The main thing is the cost of materials, you know, affordability and accessibility have really just reached a new height.
It's very, very difficult for us.
And we're buying modular homes, parts of modular homes at a discounted rate because we're a non-profit.
And even with that, it's very difficult to build a three bedroom house with two baths, a garage and a basement for less than $300,000.
And we're talking about a single story, very simple home.
That is, that's a big, big challenge.
So the affordability just from materials and labor standpoint has gotten.
you know, quite expensive.
You know, another thing that we see is we certainly advocate for people living in their homes as long as possible and living independently, but we have fewer occupants per home.
And that is another driver of demand.
So, you know, if you can imagine, most of us can, a home that had mom and dad and three kids and
just because of our demographics and our aging population and whatnot.
There are homes now that are two story, four bedroom homes that have one or two occupants in them.
So that also creates more of a need.
And with that, I guess I would like to mention that we follow what's going on in the communities.
And I've been attending a lot of the planning commission
meetings for different municipalities in all of the five counties.
And last week, I attended the City of Richland Center's Planning Commission meeting, and I was really, really pleased with some of the proposed adjustments, you might say, that are going on or being discussed at that Planning Commission.
And these are all
you know, recommendations from the housing study that was done by Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning in 2024 and had to do with combining some of the zoning districts.
Right now there's seven zoning districts in the city of Richland Center and that's not typical.
Most communities this size have, you know, some have
three only.
And so they are doing the research and to try to combine those, some of those districts.
That makes things easier for development.
It also makes it easier to increase the density of the homes.
you know proposal that is being discussed at the Planning Commission here in Richland Center is to allow accessory dwelling units, ADUs.
So this might be what sometimes are called the, you know, the tiny home for grandma in the backyard.
Now there's rules that will be, you know, go along with that.
But again, I was just really pleasant, you know, just really, it was really
It's a good thing.
And it was from my perspective that that discussion is happening.
And so I'd encourage, you know, folks to watch the calendar from the city of Richland center.
And there's some really nice discussions going on at the planning commission level to help make development easier, increased density.
And then just remove some of the questions or barriers to
whether it's construction, new construction, or what might be required if someone has a two story home and they want to rent out the upstairs.
What does that look like?
Where does that process begin?
And if that's a good fit for someone, again, I'm pleased that the Planning Commission is aware of that and they're doing some of the hard work to
make that easier.
Things roll in a little bit with the future of the campus properties.
Well, NHS.
possibly be a player in any of that or is that too early to ask that question?
Yeah, no, no, no.
NHS is following what's going on to the campus reconfiguration committee and the public works committee as well at the county level, attending some of the meetings.
We've let it be known to those groups that to those that NHS would be interested in building homes.
on the former campus property, the hills behind the campus proper, if you can think of it that way.
So, you know, we're ready.
NHS is ready.
We would like to build some workforce-ready homes there.
From what I gather, it's going to take some time to really
develop that housing plan at the county level.
But again, I'm happy that that seems to be moving and more work is being done on kind of an agreement between the city and county.
And, you know, there's always kind of back in paperwork that needs to be done in order for, you know, there's a lot of work that needs to happen before, you know, homes can be built there.
But NHS is ready.
We'd like to be able to
partner on that part of it.
NHS at this point doesn't really have a, it's not really in our strength to be developers of the campus proper, the buildings that are, you know, being demolitioned right now.
We don't have any plans for that part of the development.
But, um, certainly we could, um, you know, at some point, um, if that's an opportunity that comes along, but right now we're focused on housing and, um, mostly single family dwelling units and just building houses.
So, um, we're ready and we'd be more than happy to, you know, partner with the city and with the county, um, and with other entities to, to get some homes built on the hills behind the campus.
So like,
five years down the road, you mentioned a lofty goal of like 20 homes per year.
I mean, how does that even happen?
That would take a lot of different builders and everything else to
be going on at the same time, wouldn't it?
Yeah, it does and one of the things I'm really proud of at NHS is that we have, I feel really good relationships with contractors.
That's one of the reasons why Regional Planning Commission and Southwest CAP expressed an interest in working more closely with us is that we've really got some great contractors and we feel obligated to keep work in front of them.
You know, we've got a long list of folks and we kind of know who
which contractors are really good at certain specialties.
We know who's really good at windows, who's really good at siding, who specializes in roofing.
And over the years, I feel that we've worked hard to maintain those relationships and develop those relationships.
And one thing I saw right away is that that's not the case in all of these communities.
You know at this Lancaster project, you know self was cap Didn't really have a lead on a great contractor the right kind of contractor to pull that off and in one of our first discussions I said We've got someone right here, you know whispering pines is set modular home, you know Homes for us and we have a good relationship with them and and so they they are our contractor and Lancaster but Yeah, it's very important to
make sure we understand what they need.
Just as we were talking earlier about the Chamber of Commerce and the way that we try to have good relationships with all the businesses and what's going on here, we try to treat our contractors the same way.
Try to keep work in front of them, try to keep them engaged and take care of them and what their needs are.
Because we just don't want to lose more contractors from the area.
Some of the contractors have been kind of
pushed out priced out of doing work right here and in some of the small communities and yeah we're just going to keep working the time keep talking to them and I think it's possible though Phil it's a good question by working together you know we've really increased that capacity and we can be more efficient and you know we our role is really a project management
role.
So once we get that hopper filled up, we're managing the projects.
And it's and then we work with general contractors and subcontractors who are actually doing the work.
So NHS staff isn't out there swinging hammers per se, at least not yet, that maybe we'll come to that.
But we're helping organize the work and, you know, lining up, you know, the funding and things like that.
coordinating with the municipalities, identifying the places where we can get homes built.
And that's where we're going to go first.
We're going to go to the communities that are ready for us to build.
And that's where we'll be doing the building.
But yeah, we serve five counties.
So we, you know, we
need to be able to fill that part of the mission.
And so some really exciting things are coming up for NHS.
It's been an exciting, you know, I've been in the executive director's seat for a little more than a year and we've been through a lot in that year.
But I'm just, I want to thank all the employees at NHS for really sticking with some of these changes that's been challenging.
But they're tough.
They show perseverance every day.
They're very adaptable to change, and they certainly live the mission of NHS every single day, and that's to provide safe and affordable housing.
um, you know, which we've done forever at NHS, um, really starting with the park, uh, senior, you know, um, um, apartments, which are independent living, been a great job of managing that facility.
And, um, um, we're making improvements there every day.
We're great now, um, kind of re, you know, putting in new carpet, new paint and things like that in every apartment as they turn over.
But we also need to, to be developing a long term.
capital improvement plan for that facility.
It's an old building, one of the oldest here in town, built in 1876.
So it's been around a long, long time.
So we always need to be watching out for the roof.
you know, all those kind of things that you need to.
So, yeah, but I couldn't be more proud of the NHS employees.
They do a great job.
We're lucky to have them.
They're community-minded folks that just really are focused on safe, affordable housing, and that won't change at all.
We're just going to put ourselves in a position to do more of it.
Great.
Good to have you along as always, Craig.
We appreciate you coming in.
We're in two hats today, Richland Area Chamber and Neighborhood Housing Services.
Oh, that's, yeah.
I like variety and I like change and I like new things.
So no, we're having a lot of fun.
I have fun with the chamber.
I've fun at, at NHS and then other things that we do in the community too.
So, um, yeah, it's all good.
If people are interested and I know you probably still do the same kind of things.
You do some, you know, mortgages and you do, um, some fix up things and things like that too, that people could define a more
about.
Yeah, yeah, just give us a call.
Give us a call at NHS at 608-647-4949.
You certainly are welcome to call us.
Like I said, we're kind of working on blending some of our programs so we don't have as much funding right now for some of those projects, but do give us a call.
Let us know that you're thinking about it, and then we'll, you know, we'll certainly, you know, have that conversation about if we can't, even if we can't do it right away, maybe it's something that we can do, you know,
in a couple months, but we need to plan anyways.
So if you're thinking about that, give us a call.
Awesome.
Our guest today, Craig Woodhouse in the second part.
Thanks to Craig Huth.
That was a show of Craig's here today on the Monday edition of the morning show.
