Dane County Executive Parisi Announces $2 million to Address Affordable Housing

June 04, 2015
Stephanie Miller, Communications Director, 608-267-8823
County Executive

                                            Fund Available to Apply For Today

 

Today, County Executive Joe Parisi announced the newly created Affordable Housing Development Fund was available for community members to apply.  The Affordable Housing Development fund establishes a source of funding to assist in the creation of affordable housing in Dane County.  The population groups this fund targets include seniors, ex-offenders reentering the housing market, persons with disabilities, homeless veterans and the chronically homeless.

 

“My goal as County Executive is to ensure all of our citizens have access to all that Dane County has to offer -- including affordable housing”  said Joe Parisi, Dane County Executive.   “The Affordable Housing Development Fund is another important step we are taking to find solutions to our current housing challenges.”

 

The fund was approved last fall by the Dane County Board of Supervisors.  It allocates $2 million each year for four years to establish an Affordable Housing Development Fund.  The purpose of the fund is to encourage the development of affordable housing in Dane County by using money from the fund to leverage additional funds.  The amendment also assigned responsibility for the administration of the fund to a staff team led by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development in the County Executive’s Office.  The Staff Team held public hearings and had several conversations to gather input as to the content of the Requests for Proposals (RFPs) that would be issued to identify projects that would be funded, as well as how the RFPs should be structured.

“We can solve homelessness and housing insecurity by supporting development of low income housing and promoting housing first,” said Heidi Wegleitner, Dane County Board Supervisor.  “The need is great but the creation of this fund is an important first step.”

This is just another step towards addressing our homeless and housing problem in Dane County. Just last week, County Executive Parisi attended the first ever Dane County Housing Summit. The summit provided Dane County municipal leaders, policy makers and residents an opportunity to learn about the county’s current housing needs, who is most affected by the housing gap, the impacts, and potential solutions.  The packed room and diverse representation of attendees demonstrates that there is a county-wide interest in solving our affordable housing gap.  After a three hour educational summit, attendees stayed later to mingle with presenters and learn more about the data presented and potential solutions. This summit was a successful first step towards more strategic, regional collaboration to address our affordable housing crisis.  

“We need to continue our efforts to keep people in their homes while breaking down barriers to success and increasing employment opportunity to address our homelessness problem in Dane County,” said Joe Parisi, Dane County Executive.  “We need all hands on deck and a multifaceted approach to solve this.  There is no silver bullet.”

 

The following RFPs for funds from the Dane County Affordable Housing Development Fund are now posted on the Dane County Purchasing Division's web site at www.danepurchasing.com. Click on "Open RFPs and Bids, Purchasing,"  then scroll down to the RFP number.  Proposals are due August 5, 2015.

 

RFP #115052 Affordable Rental Housing – up to $1,200,000

RFP #115082 Cooperative Housing – up to $300,000

RFP #115083 Transitional Housing for Released Offenders– up to $500,000