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Community Updates, News Stories, Best Practices, Resources, and other data supporting the development of affordable housing for the citizens of Wisconsin in every city and region in the State. Please consider partnering with us and sharing your story

Key Points:

• The real estate company Redfin says Madison will be one of America`s hottest housing markets in 2026.
  
  
• The Great Lakes region has wide appeal because of affordability and being a `relatively safe haven` against climate change, the report says.
  
  
• Madison`s rapid growth is creating a housing crunch that city leaders are struggling to solve.
  
  
• Heat, wildfire smoke and flooding worsened by climate change still affect Madison.

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Leo’s notes: The city’s population is projected to grow 37% by 2050, yet Madison has not added housing nearly fast enough to match demand. Home values continue to climb, higher-income buyers are competing for the most affordable units. With mortgage rates expected to ease slightly and wages projected to outpace home prices next year, 2026 could offer a window to accelerate supply — but only if communities stay focused on expanding attainable, workforce-oriented housing rather than allowing demand to outstrip opportunity yet again.

When Lafayette Crump was sworn in as Milwaukee’s commissioner of city development in 2020, the city faced a series of stubborn challenges

When Lafayette Crump was sworn in as Milwaukee’s commissioner of city development in 2020, the city faced a series of stubborn challenges: a widening gap in housing quality between white and minority residents, a Downtown still grappling with vacant commercial buildings and districts of underused industrial land. Not long after, along came Covid.

Five years later, Commissioner Crump, 52, is still at the helm, steering projects that include redeveloping long-empty properties into affordable housing and coordinating with Public Works on the streets, sidewalks and public spaces that knit neighborhoods together. His work demands fluency in both economics and equity, skills he honed not in politics, but in law and the private sector...

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Leo’s notes: As Commissioner Lafayette Crump’s tenure illustrates, housing is no longer just a market outcome — it’s core civic infrastructure. From adaptive reuse downtown to workforce and supportive housing along key corridors, the city is using every available tool to close long-standing gaps, stabilize neighborhoods, and expand opportunity. In a city still thousands of affordable units short, these projects reinforce a central truth for Wisconsin communities: if we want economic growth, talent retention, and equitable outcomes, housing policy must lead, not follow.

Ken Notes: Great interview! We need to replicate some of this statewide.

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Leo’s notes: Green Bay’s decision to modernize its zoning code is a meaningful signal that housing affordability is being treated as a citywide priority, not a niche issue. By legalizing more housing types in more neighborhoods—while still retaining targeted safeguards for sustainability, downtown vitality, and public oversight—the city is acknowledging a simple reality: today’s housing shortage can’t be solved with yesterday’s rules. Zoning reform alone won’t fix affordability, but it removes a major barrier, giving builders, homeowners, and small businesses the flexibility needed to add homes incrementally and responsibly across the community.

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Ken Notes:We have a newsletter that could use a grant, and while we preach to the choir -- it is a BIG choir...

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — The Beloit City Council has approved a $1.16 million contribution to push forward an affordable housing project, paving the way for a new apartment complex.

The Riverside Housing Project, which aims to deliver 55 low-income units, had faced a funding gap after failing to secure multiple financing grants. The recent contribution is seen as a major step forward for the project.



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Leo’s notes: Beloit’s decision to commit $1.16 million in TIF funds to keep the Riverside Housing Project moving is another reminder that affordable housing does not happen without public leadership. When gaps emerge—as they often do in workforce and low-income housing—local governments that step in help turn stalled plans into real homes for real people. With 55 units back on track, Beloit is reinforcing a simple truth playing out across Wisconsin: investing in housing is investing in economic stability, workforce retention, and the long-term health of the community.

Residents say city officials have ignored them in moving forward to build duplexes on a green space in town. Meanwhile, home prices in the city have increased 76% since 2017.

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Leo’s notes: The fight over Stori Field in Richland Center captures the central tension in today’s housing crisis: the collision between deeply held attachments to place and an undeniable shortage of homes ordinary people can afford. Green space matters—but so does the ability of seniors, workers, and young families to stay in the communities they love. When every proposed site is treated as untouchable, the result isn’t preservation...

The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) building could be demolished and replaced with a mixed-use residential development.

MPM Inc., the non-profit that runs the museum, is building a new facility at 1310 N. 6th St. MPM will close the existing museum at 800 W. Wells St. and open the Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin in 2027.

The building on W. Wells Street is owned by Milwaukee County, which hired consultants in 2024 to plan for the future of the empty building. The consultants GRAEF, Bear Real Estate Group and CG Schmidt are recommending the county demolish the building and market the site for mixed-use redevelopment, according to a report from the county’s Economic Development Division...

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Leo’s notes: Milwaukee’s soon-to-be-vacant Public Museum site could become one of the most consequential housing opportunities in the region. With museum operations moving to the new Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin in 2027, consultants are recommending the county demolish the aging, structurally failing Wells Street complex and open the 3.7-acre site to high-density, mixed-use residential development. Early concepts show the potential for up to 555 new homes, including market-rate, workforce, affordable, and student housing — a transformative scale at a moment when Milwaukee’s housing shortage continues to deepen. As Milwaukee County prepares to issue an RFP in mid-2026, this project represents exactly the kind of site where bold housing investments can reshape opportunity for the next generation.

This year was a building year for Metcalfe Park Community Bridges – literally and figuratively. 

In 2025, the neighborhood organization launched its Reclaim and Restore initiative, geared toward increasing homeownership in Metcalfe Park by renovating city-owned foreclosed properties and providing them to Metcalfe Park residents through a lease-to-own model.

Now, Community Bridges has plans to broaden its developmental footprint with a proposal for a $26 million community-led housing development that, if approved, will provide affordable housing to seniors and health care workers. 

Community Bridges, in partnership with KG Development, submitted an application to Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority for 4% state low-income housing tax credits...   ...Full Story Here

Leo’s notes: Metcalfe Park Community Bridges is showing what community-led housing can look like when affordability, ownership, and health are treated as inseparable goals. At a moment when rising costs and absentee ownership threaten displacement across Milwaukee, Metcalfe Park’s approach underscores a critical lesson for housing policy statewide: lasting affordability is strongest when residents help shape, own, and benefit from the places they call home.

In its third and last Community Grant cycle of the year, Alliant Energy and the Alliant Energy Foundation awarded over $980,000 to various causes and nonprofits across Iowa and Wisconsin. This brings the 2025 total Alliant Energy has awarded to over $2.28M. 

All Community Grant recipients seek to make an impact on Alliant Energy’s four focus areas: Community safety and engagement, environmental stewardship, hunger and housing and workforce readiness...

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Leo’s notes: As housing costs continue to climb across the region, philanthropic partners like Alliant Energy play an increasingly important role — not as a replacement for policy action, but as a catalyst that strengthens local safety nets and helps communities move closer to stable, attainable housing for all.

The Corliss is a new private affordable housing development in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood.

The development cost nearly $200 million, including some public funding, and offers over 500 affordable rental units. It consists of eight buildings at the site of a former landfill at 135 E. Becher Street.

Milwaukee`s District 14 Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic represents the area where The Corliss is located. She spoke with WUWM’s Eddie Morales about how the project could help address housing challenges.

Eddie Morales: The project aims to address problems like resident displacement, rising costs, and keeping aging residents in place. Can you explain the scale of those concerns and how much of an impact that city officials hope The Corliss will have?

Marina Dimitrijevic: Just like many cities across the United States, affordable housing is still something we`re really struggling with. We, as the City of Milwaukee, are thousands of units under what we need for a city our size when it comes to affordability. It`s one of the top things I hear, especially in my community.

This is a way to chip away at what is a very large-scale problem. And speaking of scale, this is a pretty large-scale project. It`s just under 600 units and every unit is affordable, meaning that it`ll be somewhat income-based. There is specifically over 100 units dedicated for older adults who want to age in place. So this is quite the right step in the right direction on what I do think will be a long worthwhile journey to making our city more affordable and accessible for everybody....

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Leo’s notes: The Corliss are not one-off solutions. If communities want teachers, service workers, seniors, and families to stay rooted where they live and work, affordable and workforce housing must become a sustained priority, not an exception.

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ENABLING BETTER PLACES: A USER’S GUIDE TO WISCONSIN NEIGHBORHOOD AFFORDABILITY	WHEDA’s Rural Affordable Workforce Housing Initiative	Wisconsin REALTORS® Association
WISCAP Affordable Housing Network	Division of Energy, Housing and Community Resources	Housing Authority City of Milwaukee (HACM)
Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corp	WEDA Legislative Tracker	NRA Housing Needs By State / Wisconsin
Wisconsin Housing Alliance	Office of Rural Prosperity Wisconsin Economic Development

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Nate Notes: to be included as a Workforce Housing resource email us a link and a brief note to: wwhnews.com@gmail.com...

Middleton’s plan commission recommended against rezoning the property

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Notes:

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Leo’s notes: As Wisconsin communities work to close widening gaps between jobs, housing, and opportunity, private-sector partners are increasingly stepping into a civic role once filled by public programs alone. This is a practical reminder that solving the housing crisis requires more than units—it requires coordinated, place-based commitments that strengthen households, stabilize communities, and ensure that economic growth translates into real housing security...

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Leo’s notes: Milwaukee County’s decision to strategically deploy more than $3 million in annual federal CDBG and HOME funds is a reminder that affordable housing isn’t just a line item—it’s core infrastructure for healthy communities. By directing these dollars toward housing stability, senior services, and neighborhood investments, the county is using flexible federal tools the way they were intended: to meet local needs where markets fall short. At a time when rising housing costs ripple into workforce shortages, health outcomes, and aging-in-place challenges, this kind of coordinated public investment helps ensure that working families and seniors aren’t left behind—and that housing policy remains inseparable from community well-being.

The City of Madison’s Common Council has approved nearly $14 million from the Affordable Housing Fund to support the creation of approximately 425 new rental homes across the City, with more than 260 of those offering permanent affordability to lower-income households. 

This funding is the result of the Community Development Division’s annual Request for Proposals (RFP) for Affordable Rental Housing Developments, supporting development proposals that utilize federal low-income housing tax credits.


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RACINE, WI — The former St. Nicholas Episcopal Church property at 2509 16th Street has been cleared for redevelopment, with construction of four affordable homes set to begin in 2026.

According to City Housing Manager Veronica Seymour, the City of Racine is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build the new homes...

...The church, owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, had been vacant for several years and was in poor condition, prompting the city’s Community Development Authority (CDA) to consider its acquisition and redevelopment...

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Leo’s notes: Racine’s plan to replace the long-vacant St. Nicholas Episcopal Church with four new Habitat for Humanity homes is a small but meaningful step toward addressing the city’s estimated 3,500-unit housing shortfall. By leveraging federal HOME funds and partnering with Habitat, the city is turning an underused property into quality, ownership-ready housing that fits the neighborhood and serves income-eligible families. It’s another example of how thoughtful infill development — even at a modest scale — can strengthen communities, stabilize blocks, and expand opportunities for families priced out of the market.

MADISON (WLUK) -- Fifty-nine organizations will receive $2 million in grant funds from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority Foundation to improve housing assistance in Wisconsin`s most vulnerable populations.

Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday that the grant funds will be awarded to Wisconsin housing assistance facilities, including emergency shelters, transitional residences, and extremely low-income housing.

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Act 78 clarifies and broadens tax credit eligibility, giving Wisconsin businesses more flexibility to invest in housing and childcare needs

MADISON, WI – Governor Tony Evers has signed a proposal introduced by State Rep. Dave Armstrong (R-Rice Lake) that will improve an incentive to Wisconsin businesses to invest in workforce housing and childcare.

Assembly Bill 280, which is now Act 78, builds on legislation Representative Armstrong successfully shepherded to the Governor’s desk last session.

“Wisconsin is in desperate need of affordable housing and childcare, both of which are critical to our economy,” Representative Armstrong said.

“People don’t want to work where they can’t afford to live and there’s no one to watch the kids. Last session, I introduced what became 2023 Act 143, which created an incentive for businesses to get some skin in the game by allowing them to claim the Business Development Tax Credit for up to 15% of their investments in workforce housing and childcare. However, after Act 143 took effect, I began to hear concerns from employers that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation was interpreting it more narrowly than I had intended, limiting the types of investments that could qualify.”

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Leo’s notes: By clarifying that businesses can receive tax credits for contributing to housing and childcare projects that benefit the broader community (including revolving loan funds), the state is expanding the toolbox without creating new bureaucracy. In a tight labor market where workers need places to live and families need reliable care, this flexibility helps align economic development with real-world workforce needs and reinforces housing as essential infrastructure, not a side issue.

NEENAH, Wis. (WBAY) - Froedtert ThedaCare is investing in the future of healthcare in Northeast Wisconsin. The health system is building new on-campus housing for medical residents at ThedaCare Medical Center-Neenah.

Approximately 56 townhouse units will be constructed in two phases on Doty Island. This housing will support ThedaCare’s graduate medical education program, which was accredited in September.

The program aims to train and retain physicians, addressing Wisconsin’s need for thousands more doctors by 2035...

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Ken Notes: This is an idea that could be used in a number of businesses. Housing and Skilled labor are two of the biggest concerns today...

RHINELANDER (WJFW) -- Oneida County has faced a housing crisis in recent years, but a new planned development in Rhinelander will bring more living spaces to the area.

Just along highway 17 across from the Rhinelander Menards is an expected location of new apartment and townhome housing, thanks to Shorewest Realty and The Oneida County Economic Development corporation.

The Northwoods housing crisis has been a problem in the area for the last two decades. Businesses are having trouble finding employees as options for living spaces have been limited. Shorewest real estate agent Deb Mann explains the process for how this came to be...

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A proposed budget from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that cuts funds which have meant the difference between shelter and homelessness for about 170,000 people nationwide has left communities scrambling. In Wisconsin, the cuts are projected to cause the loss of permanent housing for 2,379 people according to a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The loss of funds would hit early in the new year, leaving local governments to absorb the fallout in the middle of winter...   ...Full Story Here

Ken Notes: We should NOT play politics with housing, that said we may need to sit down and create programs that work better moving forward...

An expansion of affordable housing took a step forward on Dec. 2 when the Sturgeon Bay Common Council agreed to commit $250,000 toward a proposed 60-unit apartment development on the city’s west side. 

The funding, drawn from the city’s affordable housing reserve, would support Gorman and Company’s project, Columbia Corner Apartments, contingent on the project securing low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA).

The council approved a city Finance/Purchasing and Building Committee recommendation to allocate $250,000 in affordable housing funds for the project, which would be located northeast of the intersection of South Columbia Avenue and Green Bay Road.

Ted Matkom, the lead developer for the project, appeared remotely before the council about Gorman’s plans for the site, where the company has an option to purchase through Dec. 31, 2026...

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Leo`s notes: Sturgeon Bay’s decision to commit affordable housing funds to the proposed Columbia Corner Apartments underscores a growing recognition that workforce housing is essential community infrastructure, not a secondary amenity. This investment reflects foresight: aligning land use, financing tools, and state programs to turn a challenging site into homes that support the people who keep the community running.

HUD cuts could endanger housing for families, veterans, children

A proposed budget from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that cuts funds which have meant the difference between shelter and homelessness for about 170,000 people nationwide has left communities scrambling. In Wisconsin, the cuts are projected to cause the loss of permanent housing for 2,379 people according to a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The loss of funds would hit early in the new year, leaving local governments to absorb the fallout in the middle of winter. 

Korey Lundin, senior staff attorney at the National Housing Law Project and former staff attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin Examiner that the grants that HUD cut —  known as Continuum of Care (CoC) funds — “help thousands of people. That includes folks who have been recently unhoused.” In Wisconsin, 52% of permanent housing funding is covered by the CoC program...

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Across Wisconsin many employees can simply not afford to live where they work.

This is true in big cities and small rural communities. Both the availability and price of housing is not in line with the needs of those working in jobs that are vital to the success of our communities. Imagine a firefighter, teacher, city employee, service, or retail worker not able to afford a home in the community they serve.

We believe Wisconsin employers will support these efforts so they can successfully recruit workers to fill the thousands of job openings now hampered by a shortage of affordable housing.


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WWHNEWS Notes: To add a resource or correct above send data and link to wwhnews.com[at]gmail.com...