Ernst discusses housing, small business support at Elkader stop

By Audrey Posten | Times-Register

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst discussed housing and small business support during a stop in Elkader on Nov. 16. The visit was her final on the 2024 99-county tour.

“Saved the best for last,” Ernst said to those gathered at the Clayton County Development Group Office, including CCDG Executive Director Darla Kelchen, Clayton County Supervisor Doug Reimer, Elkader City Administrator Jennifer Cowsert, State Rep. Michael Bergan and residents Mary Kuehl and Bruce Landis.

Ernst was specifically interested in learning about housing in Clayton County, where Kelchen said a needs assessment revealed that more housing was vital to sustaining a workforce.

According to Kelchen, most communities have housing subdivisions and she and others have sat down with builders to discuss constructing spec homes. 

“But trying to get developers up here to take that risk, we haven’t been able to do that,” she said. “So we sat down and said, ‘What’s the main reason people aren’t building?’ It comes down to the local level, where you need the lenders to put construction loans together, they need 20 percent down. A lot of folks don’t have that in the checking account.”

Thanks to county support and partnerships with the regional housing trust fund and Upper Mississippi Gaming Corporation, Kelchen stated CCDG was able to provide a match for a $500,000 grant to start a revolving loan fund.

“We’re looking at helping people build about 10 to 12 homes with up to $40,000 to help them with their construction loan. We have two applications sitting on the table right now,” Kelchen shared. “There’s opportunity for housing here. We just need to find a way to bring builders here.”

Ernst inquired about upper story housing, after touring lofts in another community that had attracted young people.

“Often times, you get young people moving into a community who may not want to buy or don’t have the ability to buy right away,” Ernst said.

Cowsert said Elkader has been working on upper story housing with assistance from Main Street Iowa. Some recently finished units were nearly full as soon as they became available.

Kuehl brought up the proliferation of vacation rentals in Elkader and surrounding communities. 

“A lot of homes that could be rented out for families are being bought up and turned into Airbnbs. Up in Lansing, they have so many Airbnbs it’s affecting their school and businesses because they don’t have permanent residents. I don’t know how [the vacation rentals] are doing either, when there are so many in the area,” Kuehl said.

Unfortunately, said Cowsert, state legislation prevents cities from regulating the number of vacation rentals.

“[The state] stepped into our business, I feel like. I don’t think that was helpful,” she said.

This, in turn, “affects our downtown businesses,” Kelchen added.

Ernst was sympathetic. 

“You’re blessed to be in area with a lot of natural beauty and resources, but it’s also a curse,” she said. “I can see where it’s an issue if it’s not a permanent home. I don’t want to get into state business...but I tend to think communities are better suited to determine what’s right for you.”

Ernst also stressed the importance of more local control to support small businesses and communities after Kelchen lamented the amount of paperwork required.

The housing grant, for example, requires seven different environmental studies, according to Kelchen.

“If we have to go through seven studies for lots that are already in a housing subdivision, it’s going to eat up my $40,000. They’ll never get houses built,” she said.

Cowsert said the same for Community Development Block Grants that help with sewer, water and other infrastructure.

“We can no longer write those ourselves or administer those ourselves. It has to be someone certified to apply for them. That cost isn’t allowed in the grant, so we have to pay that cost. It’s cumbersome and I don’t think those grants are all that technical that I couldn’t just administer them,” she explained.

Ernst said there will be a push for efficiency with the incoming administration. 

“That’s what Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will be working on. I think part of their focus will be on how do we downsize the federal government without sacrificing customer service opportunities. Part of that is just the bureaucracy we have, and it is time consuming and it’s costly,” Ernst shared.

The senator will chair the small business committee this next year and is excited about the opportunity. Ernst and her team are already working on initiatives for the upcoming congress. 

“It is too burdensome, what we do as a federal government with regulations, and how you have to comply with all the regulations, all the reporting for small businesses. Most small businesses don’t have a team of lawyers or HR personnel, so we’ve got to figure that out and do what’s right for our small businesses and take that burden away from them,” Ernst said.

Kelchen encouraged support of the Small Business Administration (SBA). SBA visits her office about twice each month, helping three to four clients per day with business plans.

Ernst believes the incoming administrative will reverse the trend of centralizing funds in D.C., and instead push funds out to states.

“This is one, Democrats and Republicans agree that we don’t want dollars taken out of the states just to build up the infrastructure in D.C. It hasn’t made sense to us. We’ve collectively been pushing back against bigger SBA. We know we need people on the ground out here so we can do more of this. [States] are where the businesses are,” she said.

One particular business where Ernst and the meeting attendees would like to see relief is for independent pharmacies. Kuehl noted the pharmacy in Monona has closed and the drug store in McGregor will close next month. There are concerns about Elkader’s pharmacy.

“What’s next,” she wondered.

Kelchen said pharmacies are particularly important with Clayton County aging population.

“Not having that pharmacy really puts people’s health in jeopardy,” she said, and consumers are worried about the safety of ordering online.

Again, Ernst said the incoming administration will be aggressive on pharmacy benefit managers who are hurting independent pharmacies. 

“I think this will be a real opportunity to tackle those pharmacy benefit managers. They have been so harmful for our mom and pop pharmacies in rural areas, and we don’t have many left. This is a must do,” she stressed.