| Wisconsin Workforce Housing News | ||
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 Special Note: Leo and Ken are focused on bringing economic development, regional growth, and workforce housing expertise together at the community level. We hope to help turn new state policy into actual projects - and ultimately into homes for the workers these communities need to sustain their businesses and economy. We are excited to be a part of this conversation. | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 10 - Wk: 100 Date: 10/19/2026 3:46:44 PM | ||
| One Year Later: FHLBank Chicago’s $2 Million AHP Grant Helps Deliver 40 New Homes in Rural Wisconsin | ||
Leo's notes: Hayward's Trailview Cottages demonstrates both the potential of thoughtfully designed rural workforce housing and the scale of unmet demand- 40 new homes are already occupied with another 208 households on the waiting list. The bigger question is how we move from celebrating individual projects to making this type of development financially feasible and replicable across Wisconsin's smaller communities. | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 26 - Wk: 43 Date: 10/19/2026 3:18:09 PM | ||
| Four mayors, one squeeze: Leaders face the challenge of a K-shaped economy | ||
Leo's notes: Economic development cannot stop at attracting employers and creating jobs; if communities cannot house the workforce those investments depend on, housing becomes the constraint on economic growth rather than a benefit of it. | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 26 - Wk: 43 Date: 10/19/2026 3:20:24 PM | ||
| Wisconsin condo development lags, leaving fewer options for affordable homes | ||
Leo's notes: WPR reports that owner-occupied multifamily housing accounts for less than 8% of Wisconsin's housing stock, compared with more than 12% nationally. Madison and Milwaukee have also experienced dramatic declines in new condo production since the mid-2000s. Housing choice depends on financing and development feasibility just as much as zoning—especially when conventional rental projects are easier to finance than attainable ownership alternatives. Ken Notes: We understand that 2008 was devastating for the condo market with banks selling units to those that could not afford them, but today we have an "ownership" crisis and banks are still leery of lending in this market. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by not creating markets for our service, retail, and entry level workers to own affordable homes. Condos are a part of the solution not the problem. | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 26 - Wk: 43 Date: 10/19/2026 3:34:22 PM | ||
| Wisconsin Workforce Housing Resources | ||
| Notes: to be included as a Workforce Housing resource email us a link and a brief note to: wwhnews.com@gmail.com... | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 10 - Wk: 125 Date: 10/12/2026 3:21:44 PM | ||
| Gov. Evers, WHEDA Celebrate Groundbreaking of New Single Family Workforce Housing in Plymouth | ||
Leo's notes: The $3.4 million Infrastructure Access Loan is significant, but the more consequential story is the dependence on multiple funding partners to deliver entry-level homes. The challenge is turning these successful partnerships into a scalable development model across Wisconsin. Big thanks to WHEDA’s infrastructure financing program! | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 26 - Wk: 43 Date: 10/19/2026 3:38:16 PM | ||
| What’s new in Wisconsin TIF: Key changes under Acts 173 and 235 | ||
Leo's notes: For Wisconsin's smaller and rural communities, residential TIF could help close the gap between housing demand and what projects actually cost to build. But the real test isn't whether communities gain another financing tool—it's whether they can use it to deliver starter homes, duplexes, and missing-middle housing at prices local workers can afford, without relying on large-scale developments to make the numbers work. | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 26 - Wk: 43 Date: 10/19/2026 3:25:31 PM | ||
| Why is affordable housing so difficult? | ||
Leo’s notes: We must shift the conversation from funding individual affordable housing projects to addressing the underlying economics that make modest, workforce-oriented housing difficult to build. | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 26 - Wk: 43 Date: 10/19/2026 3:41:47 PM | ||
| Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corp.: To celebrate groundbreaking for Prairie Haus Senior in New Glarus | ||
Leo's notes: Senior housing is often overlooked in Wisconsin's workforce housing conversation, yet the two are closely connected. Prairie Haus Senior will add 50 mixed-income apartments, including 20 income-restricted units, to New Glarus. The project illustrates how senior housing can contribute to a broader local housing strategy, although its effect on existing home availability will depend on whether residents move from homes within the community. | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 26 - Wk: 43 Date: 10/19/2026 3:45:10 PM | ||
| About Wisconsin Workforce Housing News (WWHNews.com) | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 10 - Wk: 125 Date: 8/13/2026 3:49:48 PM | ||
| List of Housing Resources | ||
| WWHNEWS Notes: To add a resource or correct above send data and link to wwhnews.com[at]gmail.com... | ||
| Click to Display / Share This Note - Vol: 11 - Wk: 125 Date: 10/5/2026 7:23:20 PM |