Madison officials and community members celebrated the construction of two “missing middle” affordable twin homes in the Owl Creek neighborhood on Jan. 21.
“MACLT is incredibly excited to be such a big part of the City of Madison's Housing Forward initiative,” Madison Area Community Land Trust Housing Director Deaken Boggs told The Daily Cardinal. “MACLT's form of permanently affordable homeownership has been deployed throughout the city as we have added nine new homes to our program since 2021 bringing our total permanently affordable homes to 69 across the City of Madison.”
The project highlights the City of Madison’s ongoing efforts through Madison’s Comprehensive Plan to expand affordable housing options through the promotion of “missing middle” housing — properties the city’s Northeast Area Plan describes as “a range of housing types scaled between single-family detached houses and larger apartment buildings.”
The twin homes were funded by a partnership between the city, MACLT and private developers. New homeowners Ariel Christian and Chet Wells told the city they previously believed owning a home was out of reach before participating in the program.
“We absolutely love the area, although we never thought we'd be able to actually buy a home,” Christian said. “But after learning about MACLT and the generous down payment assistance through the City, we could actually buy a house and build equity, it's incredible.”
Madison contributed $600,000 from its Affordable Housing Fund and sold the land to MACLT for $1. The development created four homes on a site that would traditionally allow only one single-family residence, according to the City of Madison.
According to MACLT, the City of Madison sells city-owned lots for $1 and provides zero percent interest loans to help subsidize the construction of affordable homes to be sold to households earning at or below 80%of the area median income — about $60,000 — who could not afford market-rate housing. Buyers purchase the home itself while leasing the land through a 99-year ground lease, which limits resale price increases to 1% per year. Through this model, the city’s one-time subsidy is preserved permanently, keeping these homes affordable for generations of low-income residents in Madison.
Each home is approximately 1,200 square feet and includes two bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms and a garage. The homes sold for about $240,000.
The project aligns with broader zoning and policy changes adopted by the city to encourage the construction of missing middle housing as a part of Madison’s Comprehensive Plan, published by the City of Madison Department of Planning, Community & Economic Development.
“Our goal is to continue partnering with the city to build permanently affordable housing on city-owned sites to increase opportunities for affordable homeownership,” Boggs said. “We appreciate the city's efforts to support homeownership in addition to affordable rental housing.”
