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Waukesha County’s affordable housing challenges have reached new heights due to economic trends stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, demanding consideration of strategies to reduce the cost of renting, buying, and building homes.
Factors contributing to the problem include housing costs that are increasing far more rapidly than incomes, the lackluster recent pace of production of rental and owner-occupied housing, and regulatory and other barriers to new development.
One clear takeaway from a recent Forum analysis of the issue is that there is no “silver bullet.” Rather, multiple strategies are needed to increase and diversify the county’s housing supply and to improve affordability over the longer term.
The analysis reveals the median value of homes in Waukesha County was the highest of any Wisconsin county in 2021, while the county’s median rent was exceeded only in Dane County. These difficulties have intensified, as the county’s median home sales price increased by over 41% between 2016 and 2021 — while its median household income rose only 15%.
Meanwhile the number of homes listed for sale in Waukesha County has declined, while the vacancy rate in the owner-occupied market was just 0.2% in 2021. The county added nearly 1,200 more households than housing units between 2010 and 2021.
Zoning regulations limit the variety of housing that can be produced and affect housing costs. Some Waukesha County municipalities restrict developers from building smaller homes on smaller lots, which can add to the total cost of homes. In the last five years, the average size of new lots created by subdivision was twice as large in Waukesha County (0.67 acres) as in Dane County (0.31 acres).
Many Waukesha County municipalities also prohibit duplexes and multi-family housing development in most areas of their communities, bar the construction of accessory dwelling units, or impose extensive parking requirements on multi-family housing that add to the cost of each unit. The cost of infrastructure and utility extensions and expansions are additional barriers.
Public opposition also poses a major obstacle. Developers commonly propose denser, mixed-income housing, but community members frequently oppose such developments due to concerns about potential impacts on traffic, parking, or property values.
Both state and local action could play a role in fostering housing affordability in Waukesha County. In June, Gov. Tony Evers signed a bipartisan package of housing bills into law, which could address issues raised in this report.
Potential strategies identified in our research include zoning and permitting changes, such as allowing smaller homes on smaller lots and permitting duplexes in districts zoned for single-family housing; expediting development approval processes; better funding strategies, potentially via municipal use of TIF or affordable housing funds; new or expanded use of alternate building methods such as prefabricated housing or expanding the development of attached single-family townhouses; and additional public education to raise awareness about the problem.
This information is a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. Learn more at wispolicyforum.org
