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36 | I NSIGH T • N o v e m b e r 2 0 17 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m Multifamily housing has been a success for Sheboygan County, as more than 240 units have been completed since 2016 and another 500 are either under construction or in the planning stages. The riverfront and downtown are popular locations for the new apartment and condo units. D ane Checolinski's economic development checklist is impressive: Growing economy — check. Low unemployment rate — check. (Sheboygan county boasts one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state.) Recruiting top talent — check. A place for all those workers to live — well, that one is a work in progress, and you can tell it's one that Checolinski might be worried about most these days. "We have some great companies that are recruiting some great talent, and we can't find places for all of them to live," says Checolinski, executive director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. "We have talent from around the world here, and we want to make sure they stay." It's a challenge Checolinski has Domestic demand Sheboygan County seeks to pump up housing starts been working on for a couple years, since the Sheboygan County economy came booming out of the recession. e county has seen its unemployment rate drop from a high of 11.1 percent in February 2010 to just 2.8 percent in September. at's nearly a point lower than the state average and close to two points lower than the U.S. average. e workforce in the Sheboygan Metropolitan Statistical Area has grown by 1,000 in the past year alone. An SCEDC job portal has helped create a common recruiting tool, but even with that, nearly 3,000 jobs in the county remain unfilled. Housing was identified as a major need the past few years, and SCEDC has launched several targeted initiatives to close the gap. e effort has seen some initial B y S e a n P. J o h n s o n I N S I G H T O N E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T success in terms of apartments and condominium development, particularly in the downtown area. Since 2016, the county has seen more than 240 multifamily units come onto the market, with another 208 under construction, according to building permit data compiled by the SCEDC. ere are concrete construction plans for another 245 units and proposals for an additional 165 in multifamily developments. More than 400 of those units will be in downtown Sheboygan. But with 17 percent of the workforce commuting from outside the county, Checolinski sees an opportunity for an even greater win for the county if a way to boost single-family housing develops. "e most immediate need was apartments, because even people looking to buy a house will oen rent for a while first," Checolinski says. "But for long-term success, single-family is where there is just a great opportunity here." Recent building permit and home sales data illustrate the opportunity. Housing data for the county shows the number of all housing units grew by 1 percent from 2010 to 2016. With supply tight, median housing values for the county have risen 21.8 percent, to $146,200, according to statistics from the Wisconsin Realtors Association. Checolinski calculates the county needs about 230 new single- family homes a year to absorb the current workforce growth. Building permit data shows the number of new homes increasing, but at under P H O T O B Y S E A N J O H N S O N