What We Do
We distinguish our development projects through innovation—by providing housing that other developers don’t provide or by providing it better and more cost-effectively. We are open to developing a wide range of types of housing, because we work with communities to produce what they want and need.
We are currently engaged in rehabilitation of foreclosed homes and building new single-family homes. Our development team has experience with adaptive reuse of existing nonresidential buildings to create housing. We see a growing market for rehabilitation, preservation, and “repositioning” of affordable multifamily housing and for transit-oriented development.
We are committed to building more than housing—building neighborhoods and communities that provide opportunities for a wide range of customers.
Adaptive Reuse
Communities often look to existing, relevant historic structures as key elements of their identities that can be catalytic in community renewal. These unique spaces often attract artists or other creative people. Some of those buildings are eligible for Historic Tax Credits in addition to Affordable Housing Tax Credits and can be converted to housing that can be affordable because it has to carry relatively little debt.
Foreclosures
The foreclosure crisis is a tragedy but it has generated new resources. Both public and private funds have been committed to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, vacant and abandoned homes and put them back into productive use as owner-occupied, lease-purchase or rental homes. WPHD is already a leader in use of the new federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program as a developer and consultant. Lending institutions with large and growing REO inventories are also committing significant resources of their own to the effort.
The Partnership received the largest allocation of NSP (Neighborhood Stabilization Program) funds to a single organization in Wisconsin—almost $2 million—to purchase and rehabilitate 15 foreclosed homes in Appleton, Madison, New Richmond and Waukesha. The project restores the homes as attractive, affordable housing choices for low and moderate-income buyers and helps strengthen the housing market in neighborhoods where the homes previously sat vacant and unused. We have completed rehabilitation and sold most of the homes.
The next phase of NSP activity will begin in the summer of 2011 when we purchase additional homes using the proceeds from sales of the first round of homes. We have also been selected by the City of Janesville to purchase, rehabilitate and sell another six foreclosed homes
New Homes
We believe there is a growing market for new homes that maximize energy efficiency and quality of design and construction rather than amount of space. One of our target markets is housing for consumers who have less money. However, we believe that many consumers who have more money and a wide range of housing choices would also welcome options that make better use of their personal financial resources as well as community resources.
Rehabilitating, preserving, and “repositioning” affordable multifamily housing
Large numbers of multifamily projects that have reached the end of their long-term federal subsidy contracts are in jeopardy as affordable housing if their owners see an opportunity to convert to market rent levels. Other multifamily projects do not have rent subsidies, but are available at affordable prices simply because of the “down” market and because they need work their current owners are not interested in doing. Nonprofit purchasers are eligible for financing and subsidies for both kinds of projects.
Transit Oriented Development
The link between transit-oriented development and workforce housing is clear and compelling. Research on the combined cost of housing and transportation makes the relationship between the location of housing and the location of jobs even more important.
There are limits to our ability to put housing literally close to jobs because the jobs are dispersed. Affordable housing next to a large concentration of jobs—especially moderately paid jobs—might be a significant contribution to “workforce housing,” but that’s not always possible. Locating affordable housing close to transit to connect people to many jobs is another way of providing housing “close to jobs” and reducing their transportation costs.
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