By Justin Markofski
Northside News
Meet Olivia Parry, senior planner with the Dane County Department of Planning and Development, a Northsider and housing expert. We asked her about housing issues in Madison and Dane County.
Question: How long have you lived on the Northside and what do you like about being a Northsider?
Answer: Greetings, fellow Northsiders! I moved to the Northside in 2008. I love the people, my neighbors, the mix of cultures, the racial and demographic diversity. It’s a true American melting pot. I also feel grateful for the amazing natural resources: Lake Mendota, Warner Park, Cherokee Marsh and Yahara Heights Dog Park.
Question: What do you personally see as some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing Dane County and the City of Madison related to housing?
Answer: The housing crisis is a complicated problem and affects all of us. How can you have a stable life and job, a successful business, a stable family without access to affordable housing for your residents and workforce? Housing is fundamental to the success of our communities, our economy, our health.
Many people don’t understand the housing crisis and don’t feel they can do anything about it. Education is critical to solving this lack of awareness and feeling of helplessness. Educating residents, the private sector, elected officials, and local leaders is key to more widespread understanding, support and action.
We have an extreme housing shortage from decades of under-producing housing to meet demand, which has caused housing prices to soar. Dane County is the largest job generator in the state and created twice the number of jobs (38,000) than the state of Wisconsin did from 2010–2020, creating a huge demand for housing. We are growing faster than any other county in the state.
We need to build more housing of all types and sizes for a range of income categories. We need more affordable rental housing and single-family housing for first time homebuyers. The City of Madison mayor is doing an excellent job bringing this type of housing forward and leading on this issue. The county is also doing a great deal, but we need to do more. We need to build on and expand the work we are doing. There is a great deal of catching up to do.
The biggest opportunity we have right now is to implement our new strategic plan. This past spring, we kicked off a five-year strategic action plan: A Road Map to Solving Dane County’s Housing Crisis: Strategic Action Plan (2024-2028). Over 80 participants from the private and public sectors, four mayors and 17 municipalities served on the Housing Advisory Committee. The Regional Housing Strategy (RHS) identified 17 strategies and 100 action items, based on five top housing priorities:
1. Increase the number of housing units attainable by low- and moderate- income households;
2. Increase the overall number of housing units;
3. Provide housing, resources and protections for the most vulnerable populations;
4. Rehabilitate and preserve affordability of existing housing;
5. Provide more pathways to homeownership.
The RHS directs us to build an additional 2,000 housing units a year, at a minimum, than we are currently building, of all types and price points. The RHS provides action items to make that happen. Some are for the county or state or private sector to address; others are for residents, nonprofits, municipalities, developers and builders. There is a role for everyone to play. Each year we will be conducting a countywide survey to track our progress on meeting our RHS priorities and implementing the action items.
If you want to get involved and learn more, attend our free programming, watch a short video on the RHS, or sign up for our monthly Housing Newsletter. Go to RHS.danecounty.gov.
Question: Do you see any unique housing challenges or opportunities specific to the Northside?
Answer: We need more housing of all kinds — affordable rental and single family. But people also need access to that housing, and they need to know how to stay in their housing if they are having issues, and understand their rights as tenants.
First time renters often need guidance and help with security deposits and first month’s rent. Information on some of these resources is available at the City of Madison website (cityofmadison.com/dpced/community-development/housing/resources-for-landlords-and-renters).
The Northside would also be a great place to expand the co-housing model since you have a track record of success with Troy Co-Housing and working with the Madison Area Community Land Trust. There are no housing cooperatives on the Northside that I know of, and that’s a great model for adding more affordable units.
Cooperative housing is where a number of people share one house and pay a portion of the rent/mortgage, with a typical one-year lease, and share common spaces. This housing is not for everyone, but is very affordable and provides a real opportunity for residents to save money because rent is stable and doesn’t change if your income goes up, as it does in some new affordable housing developments. The Madison Area Cooperative Housing Alliance (MACHA) is a great resource if you want to learn more (machacoop.org).
As part of the RHS, we found homeownership rates were 13% for Black people and 64% for white people. People may not know there is significant financial support that the city and county provide for down payment assistance and closing costs. You must make less than $68,500 to qualify. People may be surprised how much funding is available, $30,000–$50,000.
It can be intimidating — I know I was intimidated — but it can also be empowering to learn about becoming a homeowner. First-time home-buyer workshops on down-payment assistance and other aspects of homeownership for residents would be helpful.
Question: Can you share your perspective and expertise as a senior planner on how we as a community can think about the need for housing across the economic spectrum: from low-income to affordable/workforce to missing middle to market rate to luxury?
Answer: The housing supply gap runs across all income levels, but the most significant supply gap is for low- and moderate-income residents. We have a housing supply gap of over 13,000 housing units for households that are 30% of area median income (AMI) and below. For one person, that’s $26,450. Both the city and county are working hard to bring this housing forward.
We also need an additional 300 units a year of affordable housing for seniors. Affordable rental housing is typically subsidized for renters making up to 60% ($52,920 or less) of AMI. Units in those buildings often include units for residents up to 80% ($68,500) of AMI, and market rate units, too.
Older single-family homes and rental housing are our primary source for affordable housing. Home rehabilitation funds are available to help homeowners pay for badly needed repairs, like window and roof replacement, handicap accessible ramps, shower grab bars, and weatherization, etc. Go to rhs.danecount
y.gov for more information, or reach out to Project Home (projecthomewi.org) if you need help with major or minor home repairs, or Movin Out (movin-out.org).
Madison also has rehabilitation and energy efficiency loans available for owners of older rental multi-family units up to 20 units. Visit cityofmadison.com/dpced/communi
ty-development/housing/resources-for-homebuyers-and-property-owners/rehabilitation.
The RHS calls for 250 units of affordable single-family homes or starter homes, which is 225 more than we are producing a year now. This type of housing comes from Habitat for Humanity, Madison Area Community Land Trust, and acquisition rehab of older housing stock, so it doesn’t get torn down and replaced with market rate. This is a critical strategy. Small format housing of 1,000 square feet or less is also part of the solution, if you can find a developer to build these smaller homes.
We also need housing for people who don’t qualify for subsidized housing, like missing middle-housing, smaller town homes, small format single family housing (1,000 square feet or less), and housing that is affordable to households from 80%–120% of AMI.
Youth who need housing — aging out of foster care or getting their first apartment — need help or may be at risk of homelessness. They can reach out to Urban Triage (urbantriage.org), or EverStrong (email DaMontae January at damontaej@lgbtoutreach.org or call 608-333-0537). EverStrong is located on the Northside and has walk-in hours from 3–6 pm at 2701 International Lane, Suite 100. Both organizations are BIPOC-led and support LGBTQ youth. Briarpatch (briarpatch.org) is also a resource for youth with housing instability, or who are homeless, and can be reached at 608-251-1126 or 800-798-1126.
Question: Is there anything else you want to talk about as a Northsider, senior planner and housing expert?
Answer: During RHS strategic planning, we got a lot of feedback that people didn’t know where to find housing resources and information for help, so information needs to be more widely communicated, more regularly and in different formats.
The Tenant Resource Center (TRC) just opened a part-time satellite office in Sun Prairie with bilingual services. It would be helpful to have a TRC housing counselor on the Northside one afternoon a week.
The Northside Planning Council (NPC) is in a unique position to offer educational opportunities that address a wide variety of housing problems and concerns. Inviting local government staff, nonprofits and housing leaders to share information and expertise with the Northside community would be a great asset to address the housing crisis. NPC could have a housing resources webpage or link to the RHS website so people can find a one-stop shop for their housing issues.
Question: Where can someone go for more information and to stay up to date on the Dane County Regional Housing Strategy and Action Plan and its implementation?
Answer: Sign up for our monthly housing newsletter, the Regional Housing News. Join us at our bi-monthly Regional Housing Network meeting to learn more and stay engaged. Meetings are the second Thursday of the month, 3–4 pm, free and open to the public. Our next meeting is on “How to Make Your Community More Welcoming to People of Color” and our new “RHS Community Evaluation Checklist” for municipalities to evaluate their efforts on addressing the housing crisis based on the action items in the RHS Strategic Action Plan. The meeting and newsletter sign-up link, and our calendar of events, can be found at RHS.DaneCounty.gov.
