When Doug and Becky Brenner moved a manufactured home to a mobile home park in Schroeder, they thought they’d found a temporary solution to their housing needs.
Eight years later, the Brenners and two children, ages 3 and 15, still call the same spot home.
“We can’t afford anything else,” Becky said.
The Brenners are in good company as Judy Motschenbacher, who has been in the North Shore real estate business for 17 years, can attest.
“It’s a real painful thing,” Motschenbacher said. “I’ve had numerous people come into the office, and they’re just not able to find suitable homes in the area that they can afford.”
Motschenbacher said she’s known people to turn down job offers after looking at the housing market, even though they initially were enthused about living on the North Shore.
The shortage of affordable housing has economic consequences, Motschenbacher said. “Jobs have not been the big issue here. The problem always has been finding employees and finding a place for them to live.”
“What’s happening to us up here is similar to what the people of Aspen, Colo., went through,” said Doug Brenner. As in Aspen, he said rising property values on the North Shore are pushing working people out of the area.
“Maybe a lot of people from the cities can afford to buy pieces of property at these prices, but we can’t,” said Becky Brenner. “We’re stuck.”
Together, the Brenners operate a home-based business, supplying firewood to resorts and campgrounds throughout the area. The 750 cords of wood they handle each year — about one-quarter of it bundled in small quantities for sale to campers — bring in just enough money to cover the family’s costs. They spend about $625 per month on lot fees and house payments for their three-bedroom manufactured house.
You can’t touch many conventional homes in the area for money like that.
U.S. Census figures from 2000 show the median value of a home was $138,600 in Schroeder, $147,900 in Tofte and $148,200 in Lutsen. The median is the middle number in a top-to-bottom listing of home values for an area.
While shortages of affordable housing afflict many communities, the North Shore faces unique challenges, according to Barbara Ackerson, a community housing technical assistant for the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency in Virginia. She said about 90 percent of the land in some areas belongs to the public, and demand for privately owned property has been intensifying.
Geography also presents a problem, as rock formations and wetlands render many sites unbuildable or expensive to develop. Add tourist demand for summer properties to the mix, and you’ve got a surefire recipe for inflation.
“A lot of people have been priced right out of the market,” said Bruce Martinson, owner of Superior Ridge Resort & Motel and chairman of the Schroeder Township Board.
Separate initiatives recently launched in Schroeder, Lutsen and Tofte all seek to address the problem Martinson described.
– Schroeder plans to sell eight undeveloped parcels of land to qualified buyers at a discount to bring down the cost of home construction.
In Lutsen, the first 10-house phase of a development geared toward workers is under construction.
– And in Tofte, 14 units of rental housing for workers were recently built and filled practically overnight. The rents range from $450 for a one-bedroom apartment to $725 for a three-bedroom unit.
Joan Drury, a Lutsen resident, has set aside 160 acres of land on the south side of town to develop affordable housing. The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board has provided $100,000 for the first phase of the project that Drury hopes will lead to the construction of 50 to 60 homes. Work is under way one mile uphill from Highway 61 on Mink Ranch Road.
“We’re building a community for our workers,” Drury said and observed, “Much of the rest of the county seems to exist for outsiders.”
Drury, who originally hailed from the Twin Cities, first visited Cook County with her family when she was a girl. The Drurys liked the area so well they purchased land and built there.
“I know I’m part of the problem because I came here with outside money,” Drury said. “I helped create this situation, so it only seems right I should help search for a solution.”
The Lutsen Housing Partnership and Drury still are developing buyer eligibility guidelines. They’re also working with Ackerson to locate additional sources of funding that could help working families into homes.
Motschenbacher said members of the Lutsen Housing Partnership have donated thousands of volunteer hours to the 7-year-old effort.
The dwellings will be clustered together to help hold down costs, said Bonita Gould, co-owner of Isak Hansen, the firm serving as general contractor for Drury’s project. The first 10 homes will share a common well and septic system.
