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.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Downtown focus revitalizes Milwaukee
I know, I know, Milwaukee isn't in Waukesha County, but I thought many Waukesha communities could draw some lessons from Milwaukee's resurging downtown.
Read all about it here at the Urban Engagement Blog.
Lesson 1 seems to be: Don't separate the residents from downtown; make sure there's housing in your downtown area as that increases the streetscape vitality and help support the downtown businesses. There's a good number of new luxury housing such as the towers on the lakefront and the beerline condos, but there's also affordable housing in the form of tax-credit properties and subsidized housing nearby (redeveloped public housing authority properties into mixed-income housing).
Lesson 2: Redevelop! If something isn't serving its purpose well, don't be afraid to get rid of it & use that land for something else. Of course, the article doesn't mention that the majority of the land from the former Parkeast freeway is still empty.
Lesson 3: Embrace your assets. Milwaukee used the river, which it ignored in the past, as a tool to revitalize the downtown. Many communities in Waukesha County have rivers and lakes. Don't have a watery asset? Think Central Park (OK, parks are not in the article-my two cents).
Read all about it here at the Urban Engagement Blog.
Lesson 1 seems to be: Don't separate the residents from downtown; make sure there's housing in your downtown area as that increases the streetscape vitality and help support the downtown businesses. There's a good number of new luxury housing such as the towers on the lakefront and the beerline condos, but there's also affordable housing in the form of tax-credit properties and subsidized housing nearby (redeveloped public housing authority properties into mixed-income housing).
Lesson 2: Redevelop! If something isn't serving its purpose well, don't be afraid to get rid of it & use that land for something else. Of course, the article doesn't mention that the majority of the land from the former Parkeast freeway is still empty.
Lesson 3: Embrace your assets. Milwaukee used the river, which it ignored in the past, as a tool to revitalize the downtown. Many communities in Waukesha County have rivers and lakes. Don't have a watery asset? Think Central Park (OK, parks are not in the article-my two cents).
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Remember This Week's Event!
Our next big event is coming up this Wednesday, October 7 at 5:30-7:00 p.m. at La Casa de Esperanza in Waukesha. Show your support for a housing trust fund in Waukesha County and learn more about it at Finding Funding for County Housing Trust Funds.
We are very excited to have Mary Brooks in town from California as our guest speaker. She is the Director of the Housing Trust Fund Project at the Center for Community Change, and she is widely known as the national expert on housing trust funds. She will be telling us about what other communities around the country have done to support affordable housing through housing trust funds. And our own Mary Peschel will be talking about how we could do the same here, and how it would help the people who live and/or work here.
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Mary Peschel at maryp@cacscw.org.
We are very excited to have Mary Brooks in town from California as our guest speaker. She is the Director of the Housing Trust Fund Project at the Center for Community Change, and she is widely known as the national expert on housing trust funds. She will be telling us about what other communities around the country have done to support affordable housing through housing trust funds. And our own Mary Peschel will be talking about how we could do the same here, and how it would help the people who live and/or work here.
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Mary Peschel at maryp@cacscw.org.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
New WI Senate Bill
A new Senate bill, S 314 relating to traditional neighborhood development and conservation subdivisions. I haven't read it closely yet, but I thought I'd throw it out for discussion. Your thoughts? At first glance, it seems to try to provide for a greater transparency by having communities report to the State if they're in compliance with an existing law, and to promote greater cooperation between various agencies on the state housing plan to promote model development.
Leave your thoughts in comments. Don't embarass me with zero comments!
Leave your thoughts in comments. Don't embarass me with zero comments!
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