City of Red Wing Faces Distinctive Challenges, Opportunities to Address Housing Shortage

The ability of any community to accommodate its residents, present and future, with affordable housing options, is critical. The opportunities and challenges for doing so are distinct to any particular city, and Red Wing, MN, is no exception. In March, the City of Red Wing commissioned a comprehensive report to examine its housing landscape.

Within that report were several key takeaways pertaining to Red Wing’s current array of affordable housing options, along with recommendations within a 10-year timeframe leading into 2035. Red Wing Port Authority is committed to monitoring the city’s housing environment in the short- and long-term.

“We’re faced with anecdotal evidence that there is a housing shortage in Red Wing,” said Brandy Howe, community and economic development facilitator for the City of Red Wing. “We’re looking specifically for, where are the gaps here? What are the obstacles? And what are the recommendations for solving it and achieving more housing in the community?”

The report’s findings were extensive, but creating additional moderately-priced housing options for older adults/seniors, as well as Red Wing’s workforce, were identified as some of the city’s most pressing needs in 2025 and looking ahead 10 years.

Increased Housing for Older Adults/Seniors

The Red Wing Comprehensive Housing Needs Analysis identified that older adults and seniors comprised a sizable portion of the city’s population. In 2025, residents aged 55-64 and 65-74 made up a combined 26.3% of Red Wing’s population. Furthermore, residents aged 74 and older are expected to become the dominant group in Red Wing by 2035, with an estimated 14/2% population share.

Looking ahead to 2035, the housing report projected a need for nearly 2,500 additional units in Red Wing, of which over half would be rentals targeted at seniors (including assisted living and memory care). A current trend visible in Red Wing is, for a variety of reasons, including a lack of suitable alternative housing options, seniors staying put in their homes, or “aging out” in houses they’ve long lived in.

Adding more affordable housing options for Red Wing’s contingent of seniors gives the city’s older populations economic flexibility later in life while opening the door to younger or first-time homebuyers by freeing existing real estate to be sold.

“If there’s more opportunities for seniors, then that opens more opportunities for others to get into those homes,” Howe said. “It’s really all integrated. Really, we just need more of everything but with the greatest need for affordable and senior housing.”

Adding Housing for Red Wing’s Commuting Workforce

Red Wing is a hub to which a substantial number of workers commute, with over 6,500 such workers arriving daily into the city. Many travel long distances, in some cases over 50 miles, to do so. In line with the weekly household income earned in Red Wing, there is an opportunity to build local housing for a portion of the commuting workforce.

Challenges Red Wing Faces

Red Wing must address a handful of primary challenges in its quest to create more housing options city-wide. Firstly is simple topography, with the surrounding bluff country limiting undeveloped land that is flat and close to urban services.

That reality makes redeveloping tracts of land or properties in Red Wing even more critical. But on top of the topography, there are also regulatory and political considerations. In particular, there has been neighborhood opposition at times to higher-density residential units outside of Red Wing’s downtown. Finally, current zoning laws that limit units per acre for housing also must be taken into account.

“That’s going to have something that we move toward in a way that’s going to be palatable for the community,” Howe said. “That’s probably one of the bigger challenges after the physical landscape, is how do we change thinking that we can’t have more housing, more affordable housing, and still be a city that everyone wants to continue to live in?”

Moving Forward

Red Wing is far from alone in having identified a housing shortage. The city faces distinctive challenges in crafting solutions, but the commissioned thorough housing analysis is a major step towards identifying the proper courses of action. Addressing the need for added housing options will be critical to Red Wing’s capacity for future population and economic growth. Contact Red Wing Port Authority for more information.