12 Madison Housing Wins in 2023

As we welcome 2024, I am reflecting on where we’ve been in 2023. One topic that’s gotten a lot of attention is housing – and no surprise as to why. As people increasingly flock to Madison for its high quality of life and booming economy, demand on housing has increased, and so have housing prices. We’re hard at work to ensure Madisonians have access to affordable, accessible housing choices. That includes a number of efforts to make sure we have enough housing, and enough dedicated affordable housing, for all who call Madison home. Here are twelve of our housing achievements in 2023 that are steps toward that goal:

1. Approved 3,788 new multifamily units to be constructed. Madison had another strong year for both market-rate and affordable housing approvals, with nearly 3,800 units approved for development. Construction has already begun on some projects approved in early 2023, and we expect others to begin construction in 2024. 

2. Continued strong investments in affordable housing. Every year, the City’s Affordable Housing Fund supports private developers to include affordable homes in their projects. In 2023, we saw four of those projects completed and opened – Movin’ Out, Inc’s The Andre Apartments, Northpointe Development’s Uno Terrace, MSP Real Estate, Inc’s The Heights Apartments, and JT Klein Co, Inc’s University Park Apartments at Westgate. They collectively constructed 249 homes, including 174 dedicated affordable homes in Madison.

   In 2023, we also awarded funds to five new projects, which plan to add a total of 377 new homes, including 300 affordable homes, to Madison in coming years. In addition to the Affordable Housing Fund, the City provided $2 million in Community Development Block Grant funds to five non-profit housing providers to help finance improvements to existing rental properties that serve lower-income households.

3. Grew the 6-Year Affordable Housing Fund again – by 60%. To encourage private housing developers to include dedicated affordable homes in their projects, the City offers long-term forgivable loans through its Affordable Housing Fund. To date, it has supported the construction of 2,139 dedicated affordable homes in Madison. With the need for affordable housing ever-present in our community, I have focused on expanding that fund to create more affordable homes. From 2019 to 2023, we more than doubled the City’s Affordable Housing Fund -- from $4.5 million to $10 million annually. This November, when we adopted the 2024 budget, we expanded it again – by 60% across the six-year funding cycle.
4. Planned for constructing over 1,000 housing units in two locations through the Madison Community Development Authority. The City’s Community Development Authority (CDA) owns and manages a number of affordable housing projects in Madison, and it is working now to renew its portfolio of affordable housing and increasing the amount of housing it offers in Madison. 2023 marked a lot of work toward those goals on two sites along the Park Street corridor. At “the Triangle,” the CDA completed the Master Plan for redeveloping the site to include around 1,200 units of mixed income housing, including the replacement of 340 existing units. We anticipate this construction breaking ground in early 2025. At Park & Badger, the CDA began community outreach to gain feedback on a project that aims to deliver mixed income housing, along with healthcare, public safety and childcare facilities to South Park Street. That project will be selecting a partner to move into a community design process in 2024.
5. Enabled more housing construction near transit. We started the year by adopting a transit-oriented development overlay that allows higher densities of housing to be built near high-capacity transit lines. This not only enables more housing to be built, but also ensures the people who live in that housing can get around without a car. 
6. Adopted Downtown Height Incentives for Affordable Housing. In March, the City adopted a program allowing for bonus stories to downtown developments that agree to provide affordable units. This program helps bring more homes, and more dedicated affordable homes, to the downtown area.
7. Supported investments in new student housing with affordability baked in. We saw a number of new student housing projects come online in 2023, creating more choices for students. While that eased the rental pressure a bit, there is more work to do to provide affordable student housing and housing choices in Madison, and we’re continuing to take steps to that end. More student housing is in various stages of being proposed, permitted, and under construction right now – enough to accommodate thousands of students. And this year, the City worked out an agreement with the University to allow the downtown height incentives described in #6 of this list to apply to student-oriented housing. We saw the bonus be used in a student-oriented housing project this year, and it will also be applied in the housing developed above the Lake Street Garage redevelopment, which was approved in 2023 and breaks ground in 2024. 
8. Leveled the playing field for related and unrelated households. Last February, the City updated standards around how many people can live in a household, and eliminated a clause that allowed larger households for related (versus unrelated) adults. In doing so, the City recognized that there are many definitions of “family,” and that sometimes people need roommates to share housing costs. This change was one step toward increasing equitable access to housing in Madison.
9. Launched systematic inspections to ensure adequate housing conditions. In 2023, a study identified the Allied-Carling area as eligible for “systematic inspections,” where inspectors can review all properties in the area and identify necessary repairs and fixes to ensure the neighborhood doesn’t deteriorate. While inspections are just beginning, this program has the potential to identify and require code-related building updates that can improve the quality of life for apartment residents. Moreover, we are using the opportunity to share more information with housing providers and tenants about other City programs available to them. 
10. Completed the design for a new Men’s Shelter. The pandemic daylighted the need for a purpose-built shelter for men experiencing homelessness. The City opened a series of temporary shelters serving single men in partnership with Dane County while working on a permanent solution. We identified and purchased a site on east side in 2021. 2023 marks the completion of the purpose-built shelter design, and we will solicit construction bids in early 2024.  
11. Renovated 88 apartments to be more energy efficient. The City works in partnership with Sustain Dane and Elevate to bring the Efficiency Navigator Program, which provides energy upgrades to affordable multifamily housing, to Madison landlords and residents. These upgrades make the apartments more comfortable and more affordable for residents by lowering their energy bills. In April 2023, we completed the first round of upgrades offered by the program, upgrading 88 rental units in thirteen buildings. These buildings received over 60 efficiency upgrades, which reduced energy bills by $300 to $500 a year in each building, while also reducing carbon pollution.
12. Established Working Groups to identify more housing strategies in Madison. Despite our accomplishments, there is more work to do to reach our housing goals in Madison. Questions remain about how to scale up our investments in affordable housing, how to meet the need for affordable student housing, and how to spur the development of more ownership options (e.g. condos, townhomes, co-ops) in addition to rental options in Madison. In October, at the request of myself and the Common Council, the Housing Strategy Committee formed working groups to dig into the questions about scaling up dedicated affordable housing and creating more ownership options. A working group of Downtown Madison, Inc. is investigating affordable student housing questions. I look forward to learning about their recommendations in 2024.

We made progress in 2023 in growing the set of tools we use to advance our housing goals, and we are seeing results on the ground in terms of housing and affordable housing construction. But there is still more work to do as our population continues to grow. Vacancy rates are still low, which continues to put pressure on housing prices. I will continue to expand our housing work in 2024 to keep making progress toward a goal of affordable and accessible housing for all. We are stepping into 2024 in the midst of even more work to support our housing goals. We continue to review and update land use, zoning, and development standards to enable more housing construction. We are also looking for opportunities to catalyze more through affordable housing and homeownership through our land banking policy, and we are actively seeking ways to expand our toolset in conjunction with the working groups described above. I believe we will make even more progress in 2024, and I look forward to the year ahead.