Largest private affordable housing project in Wisconsin offers hope for more like it

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.

Kenosha-based Bear Development has done something unprecedented by building the largest private affordable housing development in the state. 

When it is completed later this year, The Corliss in Milwaukee will provide 576 affordable housing units spanning eight buildings, including 144 units for seniors. The $197 million project involved a complex funding scenario that included National Housing Trust funds, tax incremental financing and a Brownfield Cleanup Revolving Loan from the city.

The complex funding arrangement reflects the reality of building affordable housing, said Elmer Moore Jr., the CEO of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority...

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Leo's notes: The Corliss demonstrates that addressing Wisconsin’s housing deficit will require projects at a scale rarely seen in the state. While smaller infill developments remain important, large mixed-income and affordable housing communities can deliver hundreds of units at once and create the density needed to support neighborhood amenities, transit, and economic growth. The project also underscores a key reality facing communities statewide: solving the housing shortage increasingly depends on strong public-private partnerships, flexible local policies, and creative financing structures that help bridge the gap between development costs and housing affordability.

Ken Notes: Now we need equity building ownership options like small homes and condos.