The Madison Work Group for a Housing Trust Fund met for the first time Thursday, where members discussed how to provide monetary assistance to lower income renters.
The group, a subcommittee of the city Housing Committee, hopes to aid current renters by acquiring funds then redistributing them to help subsidize rents and mortgages, according to Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8. The housing trust fund can also acquire land so that low income housing can also be built.
Jarrell said the work group will hash out the details of the trust fund in future meetings.
\The group will decide what the use of the trust fund will be,"" he said. ""We really don't know where we're at at this point.""
Jarrell said the subcommittee could get funds in many different ways, such as from a general property surtax, land banking or even selling city-owned lands as well.
According to Larry Gleasman, governmental affairs director for the Realtors Association, this action could aid UW-Madison students by stabilizing rents in the Madison area.
""If the new housing costs go up, what it tends to do is draw up the cost of apartments and single family homes,"" Gleasman said.
The city can use the fund to acquire land for developers or nonprofit organizations, such as Habitat for Humanities to build low-income housing upon, according to Gleasman.
""Land costs have skyrocketed in the last 10 or 20 years,"" he said, making it harder for the groups to buy their own property.
Patrick DePula, a Madison property owner and chair of the work group, said he was pleased that the City Council passed the provision in January.
""[These measures] will definitely increase the quality and quantity of affordable housing,"" he said.
DePula said he would like to see more housing projects like Monona Shores, which integrates both rental and owner-occupied housing, especially in the South Side of Madison.
Jarrell said the work group will benefit the entire city through its philanthropic work.
""I think affordable housing in general helps everybody and there's a lot of students out there that have a heck of a lot of student loans that could use some affordable housing,"" he said.
