Falling into Change while Falling Back on September
Updated: 3 hours ago
Housing Onward: September Update
By Ken Smith, Housing Policy Director
What I’m Watching:
Elephants in Rooms – Ken LaCorte (YouTube): Housing isn’t broken. It’s working as designed.
Breaking Points (YouTube): How Wall Street DESTROYED Cities and Suburbs
Casual Finance (YouTube): This Should’ve Crashed: The New American Housing Crisis Has Landed
Economics Explained (YouTube): Australia May Have Just Solved the Housing Crisis
City Beautiful (YouTube): How a NIMBY Suburb Screwed Themselves Over
CNBC Make It (YouTube): How Car Loans Are Trapping More Americans in Debt
What I’m Reading:
Realtor.com: Metro Report Cards: Top and Bottom of the Class for Homebuilding and Affordability
Wisconsin League of Municipalities Magazine: Housing Doesn’t Happen by Accident [Featuring Village President Becky Beisel of Ellsworth, in northwest Wisconsin]
Wisconsin Policy Forum: Condo Production Continues to Lag in Wisconsin
Smart Growth America: Planning as misdirection
The New Atlantis: The Lonely Neighborhood Series
Pew: Help Reduce Reliance on Land Contracts [More common in Wisconsin and the Midwest than elsewhere!]
Fox News Opinion Section: Buying a home seems impossible. Here's what Boomers just don't understand: A 20% down payment now equals nearly a whole year's household income
October is the quintessential autumn month marking the changing of the seasons. The leaves change their colors before they fall as the trees prepare for the long, cold winter. While we enjoy winter’s cold beauty, we await the moment when the trees awake from their slumber and vibrantly come alive again in spring.
Change is afoot here too among us at Housing Onward Wisconsin and 1000 Friends of Wisconsin. We in the housing team continue advocating for policy changes that increase housing affordability via more supply and sustainable land use of walkable neighborhoods. Our focus (and strength) has always been on land use and broader regulations relating to our built environment, but we need to work with others who have greater expertise in the financial and building realms.
Case in point – while the Madison Metropolitan Area continues to voraciously build housing to keep up with demand, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area continues to lag well below where it needs to be (like much of greater Wisconsin). Recently, Realtor.com gave the Madison MSA a “B+” versus the Milwaukee MSA’s “D” grade!
The Road to Housing Act and What it Means for Wisconsin
In case you missed it, read my blog on how Wisconsin can make the most of the federal 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act!
30th Anniversary Celebration: October 8, 2026
1000 Friends of Wisconsin is changing as well. This year (2026) marks our organization's 30th anniversary. On October 8 in Madison, we celebrated our origins and successes while striving for our future aspirations. Click here to read 1000 Friends' history!
Trevor Roark, Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin Bill Tishler, Alfonso Morales, and Kevin Pomeroy John Clancy, Board President of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin 1000 Friends of Wisconsin Board Members Recognizing founding members like Don Last 1000 Friends of Wisconsin 30th Anniversary Celebration in Madison, Wisconsin
It's interesting to reflect on the year of our founding in 1996 – Bill Clinton was president, the Cold War had only recently ended, and the Nintendo 64 was the latest in gaming technology. We've seen so much change over the last 30 years – and through it all – our foundational principles have remained our guide. View a historical timeline of our organization. Tia Nelson, daughter of founder and honorary member Gaylord Nelson (a former U.S. senator and Wisconsin governor), opened the anniversary celebration with a moving tribute that reminded everyone of our original focus. She also shared the video below as a tribute to her father's legacy.
Goodbye, Tehila!
Change is afoot with Housing Onward Wisconsin's personnel as well. After too brief a tenure, our community engagement manager, Tehila Cohen, has accepted a new position for a great opportunity. We are actively looking for her successor and hoping to fill the position as soon as possible! Tehila was instrumental in launching our first Community Housing Academy in Milwaukee, and she has laid the foundation for future CHAs. While we still have her, she continues to ensure the Milwaukee CHA runs as smoothly as possible. Best of luck to Tehila in her new position!
Community Housing Academy in Milwaukee
Regarding the Community Housing Academy, we have had a wonderful group of participants and guest lecturers in our first four sessions led by Tehila and Montavius Jones of Narvarte Development and Together for Homes (a program of 1KF).
Professor Kirk Harris of UW-Milwaukee and Professor Matt Mleczko of Marquette University provided historical context to understand how the present housing shortage developed and the social effects.
Housing Development Director Larry Kilmer of the Milwaukee Department of City Development and Anthony Kazee of KG Development Group gave a crash course on how housing projects are financed. They provided perspectives on financing housing, respectively from a municipal official and a developer.
Montavius Jones led us on a tour of housing types in the Milwaukee neighborhood surrounding ThriveOn King. Developer Abiola "Michael" Adetoro of FIT Investment Group LLC joined us for part of the tour and graciously showed us a residential unit in his Bronzeville Creative Arts + Tech Hub project on North Avenue. In most of the United States, it is still illegal to build anything more than a single-family home, including the “missing middle” housing types we saw on the tour.
Photos from the CHA in Milwaukee (Sep 30 - Oct 7):
Lamont Davis, Executive Director, Milwaukee Community Land Trust
Stay In The Know on Housing Topics: Email Newsletter
Finally, on September 28, the housing team launched Housing Onward Wisconsin’s first newsletter! Ali put her creative skills to work designing the newsletter, which features my most recent blog on how Wisconsin can make the most of the federal 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
With so many active campaigns under the 1000 Friends of Wisconsin umbrella, our original newsletter was growing a bit too crowded to share all of the latest statewide housing news with our readers.
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