Lake County Planning, Building, Zoning and Environment Committee members heard an update Aug. 6 on a regional housing initiative that staff said will involve a series of stakeholder meetings and targeted actions to close the county's housing supply gap.

Eric Wagner, director of Planning, Building and Development, told the committee that the county recently convened a housing summit attended by roughly 50% of the county's municipalities plus developers, nonprofit service providers, health‑care representatives and economic development stakeholders. Staff proposed a six‑meeting series beginning in September to dig into data and identify actions municipalities and partners can take to increase housing supply.

"The big picture is we're behind by 11,000 market‑rate units as of 2027, [and] 6,700 affordable units for families in that same timeframe," Wagner said. He described the problem as regional and national in scope and urged county board members to act as ambassadors to municipal counterparts to maintain participation and momentum.

Staff invited committee members to the September meeting, which will focus on housing supply gap data, and said subsequent meetings will engage stakeholders on reducing barriers to development, sharing best practices and exploring financing and policy tools. The presentation included a briefing from a Dane County, Wisconsin planner who described a similar regional approach used there; staff said Dane County's experience reinforced the value of diverse stakeholder participation (public, nonprofit, developer, health and education representatives) in building a coalition.

Committee members expressed broad support and said they plan to engage local municipal partners and other stakeholders. Staff said the HousingLakes website will host resources and updates and that future meetings will include opportunities for municipal representatives to participate in shaping county and regional actions.

Action: This was an informational director's report; no committee motion was required.