How to actually solve Madison’s housing crisis

Local debates about Madison’s housing crisis were reignited by the proposed Johnson and Bassett high-rise development in downtown Madison. The developer, Core Spaces, proposed demolishing 68 units of “naturally affordable” student housing in order to build 232 luxury student housing units. The Common Council initially rejected the project on a 13-6 vote, before reversing course just two weeks later and approving it 17-2.

Frankly, this entire saga made everyone involved look pretty clueless, but it was productive in two important ways. First, it brought the severe limits of Madison’s current housing strategy into stark relief. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s “Housing Forward” plan includes many good ideas, but it also consists largely of vague political buzzwords and incrementalist solutions that are clearly unequal to the scale and urgency of one of Madison’s most pressing problems...