Blame inflation, gentrification, or, um – gestures futilely at the world – but affordable housing has become a much-talked-about challenge in the Chippewa Valley (as well as pretty much everywhere else). While we’re not exactly happy that readers have picked it at our No. 1 problem to address, at least it pushed our pathetic yearning for Trader Joe’s out of the top spot in this category for the first time in five years. (Repeat after me: They’re. Not. Coming.) Unfortunately, our Trader Joe’s thirst did land ahead of homes for the homeless, so we’ve still got to work on putting our problems in perspective, folks. –Tom Giffey