National speaker shows the way to a housing trust fund

Wednesday evening, Mary Brooks spoke at La Casa de Esperanza about finding funding for a county housing trust fund. She is the Director of the Housing Trust Fund Project, a project of the Center for Community Change in Washington, DC.

Mary showed the audience how other communities across the country have funded housing trust funds using electronic filing fees, document recording fees, and real estate transfer fees, among dozens of other funding sources. Mary Peschel, Co-Coordinator of the Waukesha County Affordable Housing Task Force, also identified some potential funding options in Waukesha County, such as a portion of interest income.

Mary Brooks reminded us why creating a housing trust fund is such a good way to address affordable housing needs. A housing trust fund provides ongoing public revenues to continue to support affordable housing development over time. And both Marys pointed out that housing trust funds benefit the whole community that they're in, by adding to the property tax base, creating construction-related jobs, and stimulating funding from other sources (like federal and private funds).

A big thank you to those who attended! The audience included task force members, a city planner, foundation leaders, and representatives from nonprofit organizations, a major employer in the county, and a state agency. City and county officials were in attendance, as well, including County Board Supervisors Fritz Ruf and Jean Tortomasi, City of Waukesha Mayor Larry Nelson, and County Director of Administration Norm Cummings.