Housing Opportunities Commission to host regional roundtable May 9 to convene builders, officials and service providers
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Summary
The commission set a May 9 regional roundtable at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Library to gather stakeholders across the Chippewa Valley to share program updates, successes and challenges; staff recommended targeted topics and an RSVP cap.
The Housing Opportunities Commission scheduled a regional roundtable for May 9, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Library’s River View room to bring together developers, local governments, service providers and state and federal partners to share approaches and program updates.
City staff presented a proposed format that asks attendees to highlight local “victories” and persistent challenges, with the commission using the conversation to identify topics for follow-up or deeper workshops. Staff said the format is modeled on stakeholder roundtables used in economic development and is intended to surface replicable practices across the Chippewa Valley.
Staff said they will circulate a suggested menu of topics ahead of the meeting and request RSVPs. Commissioners discussed attendee caps and table format: several commissioners suggested a cap of 50–60 attendees to keep conversations substantive and to enable intentional seating at roundtables so that participants from different sectors (for example builders, service providers and residents) would be mixed at each table.
Commissioners and staff also discussed the meeting’s potential focus areas. Suggestions included aging‑in‑place programs, home‑maintenance and weatherization assistance, homelessness and upstream interventions, and models that expand home‑ownership opportunities. Staff said they will invite organizations across the Chippewa Valley and seek representatives rather than broad lists of individual invitees to keep the group manageable.
Staff raised logistics: the library room must be reserved well in advance and the city will issue invitations early next week. Commissioners discussed offering a boxed lunch if a sponsor can be identified; staff said they would pursue sponsorship and will circulate finalized invitations and an RSVP list. Several commissioners suggested using brief, structured prompts and intentional seating to ensure a mix of perspectives at each table.
Next steps: staff will circulate a draft invitation and a menu of possible roundtable topics and collect additional topic suggestions from commissioners; the commission will use the May 9 event to identify one or more focus topics for subsequent, deeper roundtables.