By Haley Brickner - Boreal Community Media - March 3, 2026

Cook County’s housing challenges are easy to see but difficult to solve. Rising costs and limited inventory have made it increasingly hard for people to live and stay in the community. At the same time, many residents are drawn here precisely because of the region’s remoteness, natural beauty, and sense of place, values that raise an important question: how can new housing meet local needs without compromising the environment that makes the North Shore special?

Northwoods Sustainable & Resilient Housing Project

A new grassroots effort, the Northwoods Sustainable & Resilient Housing Project, is exploring whether affordability, sustainability, and healthy living can coexist in the same home. The year-long project, led by Jennifer Victor-Larsen and Kjell Olsen, aims to gather local knowledge and spark community conversations about what housing could look like if those goals were pursued together rather than treated as competing priorities.

For Jennifer, the work grew out of both personal experience and a strong interest in sustainability. After moving to Cook County, she encountered the same housing challenges many residents face. For a time, she and her partner even lived in a small prefab shed so they could live lightly on the land. “One thing we didn’t want to do is be a burden on the local community,” she said. “We wanted to have a really light footprint, something affordable that wouldn’t take a lot of resources.”

Over time, she came to see that housing was a shared concern across the community. “Everybody’s involved,” she said. “If you’re in the community, you’re involved in one way or another, looking for housing for friends or trying to find it yourself.”

Kjell brings a complementary perspective. His interest in building began in childhood, when books about homesteading sparked what he describes as his “armchair architect mentality.” Years later, time spent living and working in off-grid settings deepened that interest. After moving to Grand Marais with plans to build a home of his own, he instead purchased an existing house and experienced firsthand the tradeoffs that come with modern construction. The experience prompted deeper questions about the environmental and health impacts of common building practices.

Together, the pair began discussing housing solutions and soon realized many residents were already experimenting with creative building approaches. Those conversations eventually led to a grant from the University of Minnesota Extension’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) Program, which allowed them to launch the Northwoods Sustainable & Resilient Housing Project.

Three Interconnected "Budgets"

Central to their work is the idea that housing decisions should consider three interconnected “budgets”: financial cost, environmental impact, and human health.

Modern construction often focuses mostly on price, sometimes overlooking the long-term environmental costs of building materials or the health effects of chemicals commonly used in homes. Rather than prescribing a single solution, the project aims to explore alternatives that balance all three budgets.

Part of that conversation involves redefining how sustainability is measured. Kjell noted that many newer homes are designed to be “net zero,” a term most often used to mean they use little to no energy once occupied. While this approach reduces ongoing energy use, it does not always account for “embodied energy,” or the total energy required to construct the home in the first place.

Some highly insulated homes, for example, rely on foam products derived from fossil fuels, which can carry significant environmental costs during manufacturing. In that case, a house that performs efficiently over time may still fall short environmentally if the materials used to build it require large amounts of energy upfront.

The project is instead focused on the full lifecycle impact of a building, including the materials used to construct it. They are exploring bio-based options such as hemp insulation or straw bale construction, which require less energy to produce and can even store carbon rather than release it.

Cook County, they believe, is uniquely suited for this kind of experimentation. While the area faces steep construction costs, limited builders, and challenging terrain, it also has a culture of resourcefulness born of necessity.

They point to local residents who have chosen unconventional paths, living in yurts while gradually building permanent homes, constructing foundations that work with rocky landscapes instead of blasting them flat, or completing projects incrementally rather than relying on large construction loans. These approaches can reduce costs while minimizing environmental impact.

Looking at what already exists

Rather than introducing entirely new ideas, the Northwoods Sustainable & Resilient Housing Project is focused first on documenting what already exists. The team has begun visiting homes across the county, some newly built and others decades old, talking with homeowners and builders about what worked, what didn’t, and what they would change.

Importantly, they are not looking for perfect showcase homes. They hope more residents will share their experiences, especially those whose projects are unfinished or experimental.

“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Jennifer said. “We just want people to be part of the conversation.”

“The imperfect projects are actually the most valuable,” added Kjell. “That’s how we learn together.”

The effort is currently in an information-gathering phase, supported through partnerships with Cook County Higher Education and the Cook County Local Energy Project before its dissolution in January 2026. A roundtable discussion held in October 2025 drew nearly 20 participants, revealing strong interest in both affordable housing and sustainable building, though many attendees tended to focus on one or the other. Affordability and sustainability are often assumed to be difficult to achieve at the same time, and one of the project’s goals is to bridge that divide.

Next steps

The group is now compiling its findings into a public resource that will include a website, educational materials, and a printable guide designed to make complex ideas accessible to homeowners, builders, and anyone considering building in Cook County. Future phases may include a demonstration building that residents can visit to see sustainable techniques firsthand.

Longer term, the organizers envision workshops, partnerships with local suppliers, and expanded community education, though they emphasize the project is evolving step by step.

Ultimately, the project is less about promoting a single building method and more about rethinking how rural communities approach housing. As Cook County continues to grapple with housing shortages, the Northwoods Sustainable & Resilient Housing Project aims to learn from local ingenuity and shape housing solutions that are affordable, sustainable, and healthier for the people who live in them.