Community group proposes $26M housing complex for seniors, healthcare staff in Metcalfe Park

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...   ...more

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.