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MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), today announced the final 2027-28 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). The QAP is the plan for administering tax credits that finance low- to moderate-income housing and establishes parameters and priorities for awarding the coming years’ Housing Tax Credits, including Federal nine percent, and State/Federal four percent credits. This announcement builds on longstanding efforts of the Evers Administration to expand access to safe, reliable, and affordable housing. Since 2019, the Evers Administration has supported building more than 33,500 housing units to address the needs of Wisconsin’s workforce, seniors, and families statewide.

“Ensuring all our neighbors have access to reliable, affordable housing is essential for the health and prosperity of our families, communities, and our economy,” said Gov. Evers. “The 2027-28 QAP reflects our evolving understanding of Wisconsin’s dynamic housing, demographic, and development climate to ensure every Wisconsinite has the affordable housing they need and deserve. I’m proud of our continued efforts with WHEDA to continue addressing our communities’ housing challenges and expand access to quality, affordable housing across our state.”...

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Leo's notes: As demand for affordable housing continues to outpace supply, how tax credits are allocated can be just as important as the amount of funding available. Wisconsin's updated approach reflects a growing recognition that housing challenges vary by community, requiring flexible tools that support both urban and rural development. Strategic allocation policies can help ensure scarce housing resources are directed toward projects that maximize long-term impact, leverage partnerships, and address the workforce housing shortages that increasingly affect economic growth across the state.

For much of the 20th century, teaching was a stable, middle-class job in the U.S. Now it’s becoming a lot harder to survive on a teacher’s salary: Wages have been stagnant for decades, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, and teachers earn 5% less than they did a decade ago when adjusting for inflation...

...This issue has become particularly acute as housing costs have risen sharply across the country over the past decade. Why become a teacher if it means you’ll struggle to put a roof over your head?...

..Local education agencies are tasked with the administrative functions of a school district, and they often own large tracts of land.

This land can be used to build new school buildings or community health clinics. But it can also be used to build housing – a particularly attractive option in cities where land can be scarce and expensive....

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Leo's notes: The emergence of teacher housing programs highlights how deeply housing affordability now affects essential community services. When educators, healthcare workers, first responders, and other middle-income professionals can no longer afford to live where they work, housing shortages become workforce shortages. While employer-assisted and occupation-specific housing programs can provide targeted relief, they also serve as a reminder that broader housing supply challenges require community-wide solutions that expand attainable housing options for the entire workforce.

Construction costs, lack of capital are a drag on Wisconsin’s housing market. But Milwaukee's nearly 600-unit Corliss housing development offers a blueprint for breaking the logjam.

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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...

Across much of the country, the housing market is finally catching its breath. Apartment rents fell last year for the first time since 2021, vacancy rates have climbed off historic lows and a wave of new construction has chipped away at the nation’s housing shortage.

Little of that relief has reached Wausau — and on the for-sale side, the market has tightened to nearly nothing.

A new report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, The State of the Nation’s Housing 2026, finds that the cooling is real but uneven — and that the Midwest is the region the recovery largely skipped. Rents nationally dipped 0.5% over the past year, but they kept climbing in the Midwest, where apartment rents have now risen 41% since 2020, more than in any other region of the country. Home prices tell the same story: while 41 of the nation’s 100 largest metros saw prices fall this winter, Milwaukee posted a 5.2% gain...

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Leo's notes: Unlike high-growth metros where rising rents can justify new construction, many regional communities face a "missing middle" financing gap where workforce housing is needed most but remains difficult to build. The discussion around regional housing funds, public-private partnerships, and innovative TIF structures reflects a broader reality that solving Wisconsin's housing shortage will require not only more development, but new financing tools tailored to local market conditions.

MARSHFIELD, Wis. (WSAW) - The city of Marshfield has gone back and forth in deciding what will happen to the historic Weinbrenner building. This month, they voted to explore options with a developer. That developer would turn the building into apartments.

For 91 years, this facility has been known as the Weinbrenner Shoe Factory. It was a shoe factory up until April, when Weinbrenner moved into its new place. Approximately 90,000 square feet are currently empty...

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Leo's notes: Adaptive reuse projects like the Weinbrenner redevelopment demonstrate how housing and economic development goals can align. Across Wisconsin, former schools, factories, offices, and commercial buildings represent untapped opportunities to add housing while preserving community character and revitalizing downtown districts. As construction costs remain high and developable land becomes more constrained, converting underutilized buildings into housing may become an increasingly important part of the workforce housing solution.

Ken Notes: We should be able to us modular plumbing, electrical, and HVAC units to reduce costs. As proposed we are loo kin at north of 300K per unit.

Sturgeon Bay’s Finance/Purchasing and Building Committee recommended June 9 that the Common Council approve a $5,000 price increase for the homes being built in the Geneva Ridge subdivision, which the city has helped market on Sturgeon Bay’s west side.

As outlined in the development agreement, the city has in Tax Increment District (TID) #10 for the Geneva Ridge workforce housing development, which is being constructed by PortSide Builders, city approval is required to authorize increases in previously approved sales prices...

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Leo's notes: Door County officials have advanced a proposal to increase the county’s property tax levy dedicated to workforce housing, providing additional support for the local Workforce Housing Loan Program.Their continued investment signals an important shift in how communities are approaching housing challenges: local leaders increasingly recognize it as critical economic infrastructure that supports employers, tourism, healthcare, education, and community sustainability. Financing tools alone will not solve housing shortages, but dedicated local funding programs can help bridge development gaps.

Ken Notes: Door County could and should become a model for affordable workforce housing neighborhoods. They need housing for service and tourism workers as well as health care, education, child care, seniors, public safety and more. Using great design, modular homes, denser plots, shared amenities, and the new state TIF laws every tourist community could develop a great neighborhood for their workforce... And the best part is that wealthy Chicago tourists could help pay for these new neighborhoods.

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...