The League of Women Voters hosted a forum for democratic candidates for state assembly of the 73rd district at the University of Wisconsin Superior Wednesday June 26th.

The two candidates, Angela Stroud and John Adams, answered questions on divisive topics like abortion and housing. The two agreed on government intervention in the housing market and provided examples of legislation they would support.

“The market is not going to solve this problem alone. Without the government playing a role, you are going to continue to see the growth of inequality. If people couldn’t buy in already, they’ve lost their opportunity to do that,” said candidate Angela Stroud. “The good news is we have historical examples of times the government has provided opportunity when the market couldn’t. We’ve seen in the past at the federal level things like down payment assistance. That’s something that could also happen at the state level. The zoning question has to be reassessed. Overall, we have to think about housing as a right. When we do that, we think differently about addressing this as a social problem.”

“There’s a bill in the Minnesota legislature to ban investment groups from purchasing houses. Currently one out of every four homes in the country is purchased by one of these investment companies. This is hijacking the price of homes. Something like that could be done at the state level in Wisconsin as well,” said candidate John Adams. “The state can step in with some simple solutions like that. Also, things like funding that grants to communities with the caveat that there must be a mechanism at the local level for allowing zoning that allows more housing density.”