Local Public Funds Pay For New J1VISA Housing In Wisconsin Dells Area

In the Wisconsin Dells Area the Lake Delton Finance Committee approves incentive packages that give individual private property owners about 750 thousand dollars to construct new housing for the J1VISA population.  This package includes a variance for the parking space requirement.

These buildings constructed with hefty investments of publicly collected money being diverted from the needs of the residents have very limited parking.  This is because the buildings are designed only for the work experience travelers who come from outside of the Country through the J1VISA Immigration Programming to temporarily live in the Wisconsin Dells area and staff the tourism business modals.  The J1VISA Workers typically have 90 days to work in the area and about 30 days for travel.  The acting Village of Lake Delton Administration believes this population will not have motor vehicles which is why the variance for the parking space requirement.

On the Federal and State level we are seeing changes by the acting administrations to laws and regulations designed to decrease and greatly limit the ability of  work experience travelers to come in to the Wisconsin Dells area from outside of the Country.  Families that live outside of the Country are much less likely to allow their loved one to travel in to the Wisconsin Dells area through the J1VISA Immigration Programming.

The Wisconsin Dells area residents are concerned with the lower utilization numbers for these J1VISA Housing buildings.  Such a huge investment of 750 thousand dollars of public money diverted from the needs of the residents for each building - often vacant.  With the parking variance these buildings require much more than internal reconfiguration to re-purpose the housing for apartment style living space.

The two glaring realities the Wisconsin Dells area is facing - that fewer and fewer workers from outside of the Country are coming to the area leaving this newly constructed housing more and more vacant.  And this newly constructed housing lacks the integrity to be readily transformed to apartment style space.