Milwaukee County to concentrate $19 million affordable housing initiative in its suburbs

Affordable housing could soon be coming to an unfamiliar place in Milwaukee County: its suburbs. 

That's the goal of a new bill signed by County Executive David Crowley on Monday, with a total pot of $19 million from the county's American Rescue Plan dollars. Creating a diverse mix of affordable and market-rate housing, advocates say, should increase suburbs' income diversity and accelerate their gains in racial diversity. 

"We want people to have access to our suburban community," Crowley said. "We need to make sure that we're spreading the love, building upon the strengths of the diversity of our county."

Of the total, $15 million will be used as gap financing for affordable developments that will increase the county's overall housing stock. That could mean using the money to attract additional sources of funding for new affordable projects, or giving money to private developers so that more affordable units can be created in market-rate developments.

"Solid options" have already been identified in several municipalities, according to housing director James Mathy, each with between 24 and 100 units. Another $1 million will go toward an energy assistance program. 

Another $3 million will be used to fix up foreclosed homes in the suburbs that can then be sold below market rate. Crowley chose to sign the bill at one such home in Wauwatosa that is now eligible for the program. 

Milwaukee County's suburbs, like many around the nation, are not typically used to the kind of projects this bill promises to build. That's because of a combination of strict zoning codes that mandate single-family properties and the "NIMBY" movements, a phenomenon where groups of neighbors fight against apartment developments from being built nearby.

But suburbs are increasingly pointed to as the keys to fixing unaffordable housing, with open space available for new housing stock and well-maintained infrastructure. Some projects, such as a controversial 8-year-old development in New Berlin, have defied expectations of the perceived negative impacts of dense developments to suburban neighborhoods.

Plus, many in the suburbs are themselves feeling the squeeze of the housing market, said Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride, who cast the bill as part of the road to improved city-suburb alliances.

"The relationship between Milwaukee County suburbs and the county has never been better." 

Crowley noted the historical barriers faced by communities of color when trying to access suburban homes and said that the bill marks just one step toward greater equity.

"Unless we intervene now, we're going to become a higher- and higher-priced community with possible gentrification, and other things that keep us, city and county communities, divided," Wauwatosa resident Ann Heidkamp said.