County, Habitat for Humanity To Partner on Suburban Affordable Homes

A Habitat for Humanity project on N. 6th Street. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County’s Housing Division is planning to establish a formal partnership with Habitat for Humanity in order to advance affordable housing in suburban communities.

The division wants to officially designate the non-profit housing developer a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO). Such a designation will give Habitat access to 15% of the county’s annual allocation of federal HOME Investment Partnership Funds.

The designation “solidifies our relationship with them,” said James Mathy, housing division administrator, and allows the organization to build affordable, single-family homes in the county’s suburbs.

HOME program funding is managed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and federal regulations preclude the county from operating the program within the city of Milwaukee, which has the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM).

The county receives roughly $1 million annually through the HOME program. In 2023, the total was $1,388,845. So Habitat will have access to approximately $150,000 in new funding for affordable home building. Mathy said this would cover one to two homes per year and that once the organization sells them the money comes back to the county for reinvestment in new homes.

To qualify as a CHDO a developer must be a nonprofit and it must have low-income people on its board, Mathy explained to supervisors at a meeting of the county board’s Committee on Health Equity, Human Needs and Strategic Planning Thursday.

Developing suburban affordable housing has been a priority for the housing division and County Executive David Crowley. In early 2023, the county executive signed off on $9.5 million from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation to support affordable housing projects in three suburban municipalities.

Suburban communities have historically been resistant to affordable housing projects. “Conversations now are drastically different than they were three years ago,” Mathy said. “I think we’ve made a lot of progress with our suburban partners as evidenced by the communities that are using our ARPA funds.”

Habitat is also part of a major housing project in King Park that will create 120 units of single-family housing that will be marketed to low-income, first-time homebuyers. Habitat will build 80 of the homes and broke ground in June.