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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

A study from UW-Oshkosh found local zoning changes seem to be “a necessary but insufficient condition” for expanding workforce housing. 

The report was issued earlier this summer by the university’s Whitburn Center for Governance and Policy Research. It makes the case that “zoning reform” as well as engaging with public-private partnerships and state government programs are key to expanding workforce housing options. 

While zoning changes to allow developers more flexibility have helped create an “enabling environment” for housing expansion, authors say the success of such policies depend on other factors such as developer interest, financing and intergovernmental collaboration. 

READ THE REPORT HERE!

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Leo's notes: The report’s proposed state-local partnership may be the more consequential takeaway. Pairing zoning reform with technical assistance, municipal incentives and coordinated financing could give smaller communities the capacity to actually use the housing tools Wisconsin...

Ken Notes: Leo and I have been advocating for a full team approach to taking on this problem for a while, from State and Local governments, to local builders and developers, to the dozens of organizations administering private, State, Local, and Federal funding - EVERYONE needs to sit down and focus on housing solution that bring our employees back to the ownership fold for workforce housing. OWNERSHIP is the key moving forward, we know how to build apartments, we know how to build 500K homes, we know how to make money, BUT we do not know how to bring our service, retail, and entry level workers into the home ownership market that will allow our economy to continue to thrive. We need entry level affordable housing for our workforce.

Wisconsin housing advocates and lawmakers are optimistic that a new federal law will help address the state’s shortage of affordable housing, but how agencies will fund and implement provisions in the law remains to be seen.

Known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the law is a sweeping package of measures that touch many corners of the housing industry and largely aims to increase the country’s stock of affordable housing.

The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, which oversees affordable housing in the state, has called the bipartisan law “the most significant update to affordable housing programs in the United States in decades.”...

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Leo's notes: The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act represents a meaningful shift toward treating housing supply as a national economic issue, with reforms touching permitting, manufactured housing, home repair, infill development and pre-approved housing designs. For Wisconsin, provisions protecting rural rental housing and incentivizing local zoning reform could be especially valuable, but authorization alone will not build homes—the real measure of this legislation will be whether Congress and federal agencies provide the funding and implementation needed to turn these new tools into actual housing production.

Recent changes to a tax credit program add flexibility as state officials try to incentivize investments in workforce housing and childcare...

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Leo'a notes: Incentivizing businesses to invest in housing beyond their own employees could bring an important new source of private capital into community housing efforts. Solving the workforce housing shortage will require employers to become active partners, not simply beneficiaries of new supply.

Ken Notes: Link to WEDC Seminar video at the link.

VIA CDC has begun the first phase of its Affordable Townhome Initiative. Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service has the story.

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Leo's notes: VIA CDC’s Affordable Townhome Initiative offers a compelling model for turning small, vacant urban parcels into attainable ownership opportunities, with homes projected around $125,000 for households earning up to 80% of area median income. The project is especially noteworthy for using compact townhome design to make efficient use of infill sites while creating equity-building opportunities for working families. If successfully replicated, this type of small-scale development could become an important complement to Wisconsin’s larger affordable rental projects and help restore a missing rung on the homeownership ladder.

Wisconsin is awarding $50 million to support 22 housing developments that are expected to create nearly 1,900 affordable housing units across the state.

Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority announced the awards Wednesday. The projects span 10 counties and will receive funding through the state’s Vacancy-to-Vitality, Infrastructure Access and Restore Main Street loan programs.

The programs were created through bipartisan legislation signed by Evers in 2023 and supported by $525 million included in the 2023-25 state budget for workforce housing.

“Expanding access to safe, stable, and affordable housing is a key part of our work to support kids and families, strengthen our communities, and grow our state’s workforce,” ...

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Leo's notes: Wisconsin’s latest $50 million investment shows the value of targeting the specific financing gaps that keep otherwise viable housing from moving forward. With nearly 1,900 units supported through adaptive reuse, infrastructure and Main Street redevelopment programs, the state is demonstrating that workforce housing requires more than a single funding tool. Flexible capital that responds to different development barriers is essential to turning housing demand into actual supply.

Sturgeon Bay’s Joint Review Board approved on Aug. 13 the creation of a new Tax Incremental District (TID) on the city’s west side, where a developer wants to build a residential subdivision as well as storage units.

The city’s TID #12 will be retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year. It places six parcels totalling about 77 acres along Division Road, South Ridgeway Avenue and South Ridgeway Drive into a mixed-use district with a maximum life of 20 years.

The new district includes 35.43 acres where a new development is planned along Division Road with 44 single-family residential lots, 11 duplex lots and 34 storage units with optional living spaces. Thirty of the single-family lots are being designated for “workforce housing,” where specific homes will be offered at set prices to Door County workers.

Community Development Director Rebecca Kerwin said the development would also include routing an extension of the Ahnapee Trail through the project site that would separate the housing subdivision from the storage units.

“Total project costs are estimated at $4.48 million, with projected incremental value of about $38.8 million by 2046,” she said...

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Leo's notes: The project is a strong example of how municipalities can use TIF strategically—not simply to subsidize development, but to overcome infrastructure costs and make modestly priced homeownership more feasible. For communities struggling to retain working families, creating attainable ownership opportunities is every bit as important as expanding rental supply.

Construction has begun this summer on The Avenue, a new affordable housing development near the intersection of North 14th Avenue and Georgia Street.  

Developer Brian Spoerl of Spoerl Commercial has started work on the first phase, a three-story, 39-unit apartment building. The project received low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), and the city approved a development agreement that provides tax-increment financing incentives through Tax Incremental District (TID) #6. 

Spoerl said he expects the first building to be ready for occupancy next June, with apartments available to households earning between 30-60% of the area median income. He anticipates the building will be fully occupied by the end of 2027...

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Leo's notes: The Avenue offers a particularly strong model by pairing 39 income-restricted apartments with a second 20-unit phase aimed at households earning 80–100% of area median income. That second tier matters: many working households earn too much for traditional affordable housing but still struggle in Door County’s constrained market. Combining LIHTC, local TIF and WHEDA’s Vacancy-to-Vitality program demonstrates how different financing tools can work together to serve a broader continuum of housing need.

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Leo's notes: Madison’s churches are demonstrating how underused institutional land can become part of the solution to the housing shortage while preserving important community gathering spaces. Common Grace alone will pair a new community center with 26 workforce apartments, while several church-led projects could collectively add hundreds of income- or age-restricted homes. For communities searching for infill opportunities, faith-based properties represent an increasingly important resource—and partnerships that help congregations navigate development, financing and zoning could unlock considerably more housing.

Ken Notes: Imagine if every church in Wisconsin built just a few ADU's, small homes, multiplexes, or co-housing facilities and made their building available as community centers, day cares, kitchens, when not being used for worship. We would not have a housing problem in the state...

On July 11, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (the Act) became law after President Trump declined to sign or veto the bill. The legislation is intended to increase the housing supply and improve housing affordability through a variety of reforms. Although the Act has many components, here are a few major changes that could affect the affordable housing and tax credit industry.

• Changes to Environmental Review Requirements...
• Changes to CDBG Funding...
  
• Changes for Planning Activities...
• Changes Still Possible, Elusive for BABA...
• Changes to Section 3 (Procurement) Requirements...

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Leo's notes: As we’ve mentioned these last few weeks, the opportunity now is to translate federal reform into local production. The law will not solve high land, infrastructure and construction costs on its own, but reducing regulatory barriers and rewarding communities that actually add housing moves federal policy in the right direction: toward making it easier and less expensive to build the homes Wisconsin’s workforce needs...

On May 7, Kenosha County Housing Task Force members attended the Southeastern Wisconsin (SEWI) Housing Summit, which Community Economic Development Extension Educator Savannah Meyers helped facilitate.

The SEWI Housing Summit gathered representatives from ten counties in Southeast Wisconsin at the Milwaukee County Zoo. The event gave attendees an opportunity to learn from a variety of keynote speakers and specialized presentations in breakout rooms. Presentations covered topics such as zoning, legislative developments, trends in housing and households over the last handful of decades, and programs that can promote the construction and funding of affordable and healthy communities in the coming years. 

Speakers relayed significant information about Kenosha County and Wisconsin in general, including the following:

Kenosha and Wisconsin Housing Statistics...

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Leo's notes: The Southeastern Wisconsin Housing Summit highlighted how closely zoning, financing, infrastructure and workforce housing production are intertwined. With new-home affordability increasingly out of reach for many households, the region’s focus on streamlined approvals, higher-density development and expanded WHEDA tools is well placed. The next test is whether these policy changes translate into a sustained increase in actual housing production. Also great article that names and briefly explains the seven bills recently signed into law. For more information, please look in our NEWSLETTER RESOURCES for a more in depth coverage of each bill.

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Leo's notes: This Wisconsin project is a useful reminder that middle-income housing should not be treated as a lesser design exercise. SALA HARS demonstrates how thoughtful planning, durable materials and architectural character can be incorporated into housing intended for working households—an important counterpoint to the idea that affordability must come at the expense of quality. As Wisconsin expands workforce housing production, the goal should be not simply more units, but well-designed homes and neighborhoods that remain desirable for generations.

Ken Notes: READ THIS ARTICLE. We need an array of housing solutions and this one is unique.

EAU CLAIRE — As Eau Claire County is expected to grow in the coming years, one question is how public sector development will position the community in the future.

At an Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce forum, speakers and the audience were asked what the biggest housing need in the community is. Through a quick poll, a vast majority of audience members said they believe it is starter homes, and Eau Claire Community Development Director Aaron White agreed.

“Starter homes and affordable starter homes for an opportunity for that first-time homeownership is a real challenge in the community,” White said.

“We also need senior housing. We get a lot of inquiries from folks looking for 55-and-up type housing, wanting to downsize their home but not finding a place they can move to so they’re still living in a well oversized home that they don’t need anymore. And there’s just not enough of the homes for them to transition into in a reasonable way to make it effective or reasonable to do it.”

He also spoke to the challenge of building affordable housing in the Eau Claire area.


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Leo's notes: Eau Claire-area leaders are raising an increasingly important question: when private development cannot meet community needs on its own, how active should the public sector become? The goal should not necessarily be for government to replace private developers, but to use public resources strategically enough to make needed projects feasible. Communities willing to assemble sites, finance infrastructure, reduce development risk or participate directly in projects may be better positioned to produce housing the market is otherwise failing to deliver.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development may shift their funding from 'Housing First' to treatment first programs

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Ken Notes: We need to remember there is a very real cost to all Wisconsin citizens for both the homeless and the lack of workforce housing. If we want groceries, retail stores, meat and dairy, hotels, restaurants, not to mention our daily cup of coffee -- we need to provide quality housing near where the service is provided.

If we want safer neighborhoods we need to address other issues as well. Working with alcohol, drugs, and mental illness is a very real challenge and working together on these issues seems to be the key to success. The housing first approach has proven to be the most successful and cost effective. For the record I am a fiscal conservative and believe there should be a return on our investments.

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	Couleecap
Wisconsin Housing Alliance	Office of Rural Prosperity Wisconsin Economic Development	Tiny Timbers Neighborhood

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

Habitat for Humanity's Pope Leo Village project, part of a national housing initiative, is creating affordable homes in Milwaukee's Harambee neighborhood, inspired by Pope Leo's mission of community building.

MILWAUKEE —

Habitat for Humanity has launched the Pope Leo Village project in Milwaukee's Harambee neighborhood, part of a national initiative to create affordable housing in 21 cities and build 250 homes across the country.

The project began Friday near Sixth and Locust, with blessings written on the walls and a focus on hope and community.

"As we gather this morning to entrust to God the Pope Leo Village building project by Habitat for Humanity and its partners, our faith should be enlivened and our hearts filled with gratitude," Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey Haines said.

Seven homes are either completed or under construction in Milwaukee as part of the initiative.

"The Pope Leo Village initiative is been motivated by an anonymous donor who is supporting all the projects across the country. And he reached out to us last year, after Pope Leo was elected with this idea," Kristi Sebald with Habitat for Humanity Milwaukee said...

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Leo's notes: Milwaukee’s Pope Leo Village significance is the focus on ownership: adding attainable starter homes gives working households an opportunity to build equity and establish long-term roots. Rental production remains essential, but healthy communities need pathways into ownership as well.

Governmental leaders celebrated the official groundbreaking of new apartments in Manitowoc.

A ceremony was held this morning for the soon-to-be-built Maritime Lofts on the former Mirro Property on Washington Street.

Leaders say the project will provide workforce housing for those who make 30 to 80% of the median income.

Public Housing Marketing President for Gorman and Company Ted Matkom called the project an amazing effort by the city to bring the site back to the community.

Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels called the day historic and thanked the many stakeholders who helped make the site’s future possible...

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Leo's notes: Maritime Lofts is a strong example of how housing policy, environmental remediation and downtown redevelopment can work together. The 59-unit project will transform Manitowoc’s long-vacant former Mirro industrial property into housing for households earning 30–80% of area median income, leveraging local leadership alongside WHEDA, state and federal resources. For older Wisconsin communities, difficult brownfield sites can become meaningful housing opportunities—but projects like this also demonstrate the patience, public investment and cross-agency coordination required to make redevelopment financially feasible.

MADISON, Wis. (WKOW) — Madison officials and the Lotus Company presented a proposed 200-unit affordable housing redevelopment at the Essen House and Come Back In site on South Blair and East Wilson streets.

The proposal outlined a multi-step approval process and drew neighborhood concerns about parking, density, design and historic preservation.

People who live in the area questioned the limited parking supply, traffic exiting to Blair Street, height and shadow impacts on adjacent condos and whether the design would overwhelm the historic neighborhood.

"Every single picture or rendering of the development is enormous compared to the neighborhood, and I just want to make a note of that because it's going to overwhelm the neighborhood," Madison resident Laura Heiple said.

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Leo's notes: The proposed 200-unit redevelopment presents Madison with the familiar challenge of balancing neighborhood concerns with the urgent need to add housing in well-connected, high-demand areas. Design, historic context and transportation impacts deserve thoughtful consideration, but density is also what makes it possible to meaningfully expand affordable housing on scarce urban land. The strongest outcome will be a project that responds to its surroundings without losing the housing production that makes the redevelopment worthwhile.

Ken Notes: Developers "maxed out" the site because it is a valuable piece of land...

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) -- Governor Tony Evers announced $50 million to support 22 new housing developments across 10 counties, including La Crosse County, according to a release on Wednesday.

The funding is provided by the Vacancy-to-Vitality, Infrastructure Access, and Restore Main Street loan programs from the Wisconsin housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). It will help create nearly 1,900 workforce housing units for communities across Wisconsin.

“Expanding access to safe, stable, and affordable housing is a key part of our work to support kids and families, strengthen our communities, and grow our state’s workforce,” said Evers. “I’m proud of our efforts to build affordable housing statewide—to the tune of over 35,000 new units—that will help communities grow, and workers, families, and seniors thrive. Together, we are building the future we want to see for folks and communities across our state.” ...

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Leo's notes: WHEDA financing for Copper Rocks helps move La Crosse’s long-planned redevelopment of the former Kmart site closer to reality, turning an obsolete commercial property into a mixed-use neighborhood with new housing. Projects like this show why workforce housing programs must do more than support greenfield construction—they should also help communities overcome the cost barriers to reclaiming underused sites. Strategic financing can turn yesterday’s commercial spaces into tomorrow’s housing supply...

New complex adds 40 new workforce housing units to Madison’s downtown

September 03, 2026 12:00 PM - Madison, Wisconsin – Madison Development Corporation (MDC), SSM Health, Lake Ridge Bank, and community partners celebrated the grand opening of The Bankston Apartments with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 3, 2026.

Located at 429 W. Mifflin Street, The Bankston Apartments brings 40 new homes to downtown Madison, including 30 apartments reserved for households earning at or below 80% of Dane County's Area Median Income. The development was made possible through a collaborative partnership among MDC, SSM Health, Lake Ridge Bank, and the Dane Workforce Housing Fund II. SSM Health's investment in The Bankston Apartments is part of the organization's broader impact investment strategy, which supports initiatives that address the social drivers of health and strengthen community well-being...

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Leo's notes: The Bankston Apartments demonstrate how major employers can become active participants in solving the housing challenges affecting their workforce. When healthcare systems and other major employers treat attainable housing near jobs as workforce infrastructure—and invest accordingly—they can help projects move from concept to construction while strengthening employee recruitment, retention and community health. A win for all!

Ken Notes: The next step is homeownership!

PORTAGE, WIS. — Impact Seven, in partnership with Harmony Housing Partners, has selected McShane Construction Co. to build River Crossing, a 52-unit affordable housing community in Portage. Positioned on a 2-acre site at 2941 Hunters Trail, the development will consist of a podium-style building atop a one-level underground parking garage with 52 spaces. A portion of the units will accommodate adults with disabilities. Residents will have access to 13,000 square feet of amenities, including a community room, quiet lounge, media room, pet spa, fitness center and storage lockers. Completion is slated for October 2027. Continuum Architects + Planners is the architect, and General Engineering Co. is the civil engineer...

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Leo's notes: Projects like this reinforce why Wisconsin’s housing strategy cannot stop at Madison and Milwaukee. Regional employment centers and smaller communities need sustained affordable and workforce housing production as well, particularly developments that provide enough unit and bedroom diversity to serve workers, families and residents with specialized housing needs.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council warns that a disruption in federal funding for the Fair Housing Initiative Program could have an outsized effect on rural and small communities across Wisconsin.

The council provides services statewide and said rural areas face unique fair housing challenges but often have fewer resources to address them.

Erika Sanders, CEO of the council, said older housing stock in rural areas creates additional challenges for people with disabilities who need accessibility modifications.

"People have the perception that rural communities are all white, and therefore race discrimination doesn't happen in those communities but that's absolutely untrue, especially in areas where Hmong refugees have settled, especially where migrant workers have settled," Sanders pointed out...

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Leo's notes: Wisconsin’s housing shortage makes fair-housing enforcement more important, not less, particularly in rural communities where options and local resources are already limited. Workforce housing policy cannot focus solely on producing units; workers and families must also have equitable access to the homes that are available. Maintaining education and enforcement capacity should be viewed as part of the infrastructure supporting a functional statewide housing market.

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Leo's notes: Walworth County Habitat for Humanity is taking an important step beyond the traditional single-family Habitat model, building four workforce townhomes near downtown Whitewater specifically aimed at teachers, first responders, factory workers and other middle-income households. The homes are expected to sell for about $200,000 despite an estimated market value of roughly $400,000, demonstrating how donated land, nonprofit development and volunteer labor can dramatically change the economics of attainable homeownership. What makes this worth watching is the partnership with Whitewater, which provided the land at nominal cost and sees homeownership as a community-development priority. With Habitat already planning a 20-home subdivision after this project, the larger opportunity is to determine whether this model can move from a handful of subsidized homes to a repeatable strategy for producing missing-middle ownership housing at meaningful scale.

GREEN BAY (WLUK) --A new three-year grant worth $150,000 has been awarded to NeighborWorks Green Bay by Associated Bank.

"This support will help us make sure that families continue to make smart decisions with their money and smart decisions about their housing," said NeighborWorks Green Bay President & CEO, Noel Halvorsen.

NeighborWorks Green Bay applied for the grant through a grant portal offered by Associated Bank.

Halvorsen said the nonprofit and the bank have had a relationship for years. A press release says the grant "reinforces a long-standing partnership focused on helping more families prepare for and achieve stable homeownership."

NeighborWorks will receive $50,000 each year from 2026 through 2028. Halvorsen says as many as 1,000 families come to NeighborWorks Green Bay each year...

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Leo’s notes: NeighborWorks Green Bay’s new funding highlights an important complement to building more workforce housing: helping working households successfully access and sustain homeownership. With the share of Wisconsin homes priced below $350,000 falling sharply, counseling, down-payment assistance and homeowner education can help bridge an increasingly difficult affordability gap. Increasing supply remains essential, but communities also need strong pathways that allow today’s workforce to become tomorrow’s homeowners.

WHEDA awards will help create about 300 apartments, from City Campus to Mitchell Street.

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Leo's notes: More than $11 million in housing tax credits flowing to Milwaukee County demonstrates both the scale of the region’s housing need and the number of projects positioned to respond. Importantly, the awards support everything from new construction to adaptive reuse and rehabilitation, reinforcing that solving the workforce housing shortage requires both adding new homes and preserving existing affordable supply. To be more spread throughout the state, rural communities must pair local development capacity with these varied and dependable financing tools...

ALTOONA, Wis., (WLAX, WEUX ) - The City of Altoona has shifted its plans to build affordable housing on an 80 acre plot of land near Highway 12. In 2022, the city adopted plans to develop a neighborhood on the East side of Altoona. Right here we have an image of the original plans. The plan was aimed at building homes at a cost of $300,000 for buyers.

After receiving zero proposals, the council estimated developing the land would cost an estimated $11 to $12 million. Now the council has shifted discussions toward building industrial property on the plot.

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Leo's notes: Altoona’s decision to reconsider an 80-acre housing site after receiving zero development proposals is a useful reminder that identifying land and setting an affordability goal are only the beginning. The city envisioned homes around $300,000, but an estimated $11–$12 million in development costs ultimately made the concept difficult for the private market to deliver. The potential pivot to industrial development may make economic sense for Altoona, but it also illustrates a challenge playing out across Wisconsin: communities need workforce housing, yet infrastructure and land-development costs can make even publicly supported sites financially infeasible. A great opportunity to explore WI Act 235!

Ken Notes: What they need is a planning and feasibility study and remember you can do both housing and industrial on a site using TIF and other tools. Altoona is 10K population so even 50 affordable workforce homes would have a positive impact!

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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...