Affordable Home Ownership Improves Neighborhoods

"Tunraround seen for Woodlands" appeared Sunday August 16, 2009 in the Local Section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This article, well researched and reported by Georgia Pabst, documents the improvements that can be made to a neighborhood when non-profit organizations and government agencies work together on a cooperative plan. In this specific case, refurbished 3 and 4 bedroom condos are selling for $20,000 to $35,000, and the pride of ownership along with improved government services are transforming the entire neighborhood.

What does this have to do with Creating Communities in Waukesha County? It relates on several levels. First, the NIMBY fear of affordable housing does not make sense. If a neighborhood like the Woodlands can be improved through the carefully planned development of affordable housing, it can happen in Waukesha County as well. Second, part of the redevelopment cost for the Habitat for Humanity effort in the Woodlands came from the Milwaukee housing trust fund. If Waukesha County had a housing trust fund, partial funding could be made available to similar workforce housing developments. Third, the idea that workforce housing cannot be integrated into higher cost housing locations must be eliminated. Certainly the home owners around the Woodlands approve of a reduction in illegal activities.

I agree that Waukesha is not Milwaukee, and affordable, workforce housing in the county will be developed differently than in Milwaukee, but the affordability must be addressed today, and the creation of a housing trust fund is certainly a fine place to start.