Housing Onward: August Update
Updated: 2 days ago
By Ken Smith, Housing Policy Director
Temperatures are starting to cool, and the kids are back in school, but we still don’t have enough housing!
What I’m Watching
Chicagoland History (YouTube): The Dirty Reason Chicago Has so Many Alleys
Stewart Hicks (YouTube): The Gross Reason Suburban Yards Had to Be This Big
1000 Friends of Wisconsin (YouTube): Let’s Talk Parking!
What I’m Reading
The Cap Times: New affordable housing law has something for 'everybody,' expert says
Milwaukee Magazine: Financial Instability is Catching up to Milwaukee's Bus System
The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU): The case for the return of the 3-5 story city
Journal of Housing Economics: Knock, knock: The impact of large subsidized housing developments on the surrounding community
Strong Towns: The Policy Debt: The Missing Massive
Thinking Housing While Rethinking 794
On August 15 and 22, I joined colleagues Raphie and Tehila with the Rethink 794 folks at Milwaukee’s East Side Library and Washington Park Library, to provide a housing perspective on the debate surrounding the future of the I-794 segment in downtown Milwaukee (Note: Rethink 794 is a project of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin).
Dee Dee Walla presents "Freeway Removal in Milwaukee: Three Case Studies."
For those unaware, the debate centers on whether we should rebuild an elevated highway at the end of its life versus transforming it into a ground-level boulevard. One compelling argument is that few people use that segment of I-794 for through travel; most users' final destination is downtown anyway. The benefits of the ground-level boulevard are that it would free up land for development to reconnect Milwaukee’s downtown with the Historic Third Ward while also creating sites for housing and commerce. It would also make downtown and the Third Ward generally more pleasant places for both residents and visitors alike.
From a purely financial perspective, the boulevard option is the cheapest for federal and state taxpayers. The reduction of high-speed traffic noise, urban deserts, and ugly concrete pylons would also improve the surrounding property values. There is a huge opportunity to generate new tax revenue over land that is currently trapped under freeway concrete – this is some of the most valuable land in the entire state of Wisconsin.
After all, downtown Milwaukee is a relatively small part of the city yet produces significantly more tax revenue than it utilizes in municipal services. However, just like when Milwaukee’s Park East Spur was removed in the 1990s, fear of change and “carmageddon” (which never materialized in Milwaukee or elsewhere) are being repeated once again.
ICYMI: Rethink 794 advocate Nate Loy recently published a blog on trends in Milwaukee transit ridership and the unique opportunity to expand transit access with the 794 freeway removal option. And Larry Witzling wrote an Op-Ed for UrbanMilwaukee.com about how the strategic development of I-794 and the Milwaukee Area-Racine-Kenosha (MARK) passenger rail project could transform Milwaukee's economy for decades.
Public Transportation Matters
On August 20, the Milwaukee-based Urban Economic Development Association (UEDA) hosted a gathering, “Emerging Topics: Public Transportation Matters.” For the past 25 years or so, despite a verifiably efficient system, the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) has been in a death spiral. Unfortunately, MCTS is now also facing a 25 percent budget cut in 2027.
Urban Economic Development Association (UEDA) hosted a gathering, “Emerging Topics: Public Transport
At the macro level, transportation policy in the United States has been divorced from land use policy, and the two are often conducted as separate entities without giving much thought to the other. Rigid separation of land uses and general sprawl have made it so we must own wealth-killing automobiles to fully participate in society (full disclosure, I also own and drive a car). Simultaneously, sprawl makes it more difficult for transit systems to be efficient. Meanwhile, walkable places facilitate healthy transit systems for those who can’t or won’t drive.
At the micro level, a combination of inflation, reduced state operating assistance, a strained county government, and declining ridership has led to reductions in service. Reductions in service make the system less useful, which results in fewer riders, and then the cycle repeats.
At the UEDA event, Jennifer Sarnecki of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) presented its study on transit’s benefits, noting MCTS’ efficiency relative to peers. MCTS President and Managing Director Steve Fuentes talked about the plight the system faces and MCTS’ route restructuring, MCTS Forward. After Fuentes, Claire Enders of Transit is Milwaukee talked about advocacy to improve MCTS’ long-term situation. Fuentes emphasized that a 25 percent reduction was “something we have to do, but it’s not something we want to do.” To implement the reduction, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors will have to determine if cuts will focus on the system’s coverage area, or on the frequency of service.
The Board has traditionally favored preserving coverage at the expense of frequency (see pp. 62-69 of the Overview of the Milwaukee County Executive’s 2023 Recommended Budget). Politically, that may be beneficial to individual Supervisors as there are always loud individual constituencies who don’t want their routes eliminated, but in the long term that hurts more people and the overall health of the system even more by making service less reliable for more people, resulting in even fewer people riding.
Conservation and Let’s Talk Parking!
Finally, August 24 was a busy day. I first traveled to Madison to represent 1000 Friends at the Wisconsin Conservation Funding Coalition's “Future of Wisconsin Conservation” event.
Conservation has been a part of 1000 Friends’ ethos since the very beginning, 30 years ago. Unfortunately, funding has been a challenge in recent years as the current state funding model does not account for inflation and different ways people enjoy Wisconsin’s outdoors. 1000 Friends will continue following the issue with interest.
After being a fish out of water among conservation experts, I went to the Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin – Madison to host the virtual portion of the Let’s Talk Parking! event at the Portage County Public Library in Stevens Point. Executive Director Trevor Roark organized the event, journalist Erik Pfantz moderated the in-person portion, and Daniel Herriges, Policy Director of the Parking Reform Network, traveled to Stevens Point from St. Paul, Minnesota to present.
In short, if you don’t want to watch the full video, mandatory parking requirements in municipal zoning laws are unscientific and have major negative economic consequences for our communities while making them less desirable places to be.
Looking Ahead!
September begins with our first Community Housing Academy in Milwaukee. We have selected our participants and are excited to meet everyone later this month. We also look forward to sharing more with you soon.
Are you interested in hosting a Community Housing Academy in your town or city? Let's talk! Email Tehila Cohen to schedule time to discuss: tehila@1kfriends.org.
Until then, happy September!
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