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Wisconsin
Madison Mayor Offers Changes to Inclusionary Zoning Law as Housing Market Cools and Support for Ordinance Wanes
Passed just last January, Madison's inclusionary zoning (IZ) law, which requires most new residential projects to make 15 percent of their units affordable for lower-income earners, is facing a rough time as the housing market cools down, with Mayor Dave Cieslewicz proposing ''a very substantive package of improvements,'' the industry-based Smart Growth Madison group demanding its repeal, and the City Council so far split down the middle.
Having taken part in drafting the law on behalf of real estate interests, notes Madison Capital Times writer Lee Sensenbrenner, Smart Growth Madison still voices support for economic integration of neighborhoods and for housing affordability, but its executive director Delora Newton thinks the IZ ordinance would need greater ''political will'' to make it work. She complains that so-called ''off-sets'' developers were to receive, including parking or height cap waivers, failed to materialize or to cover the cost of setting aside 15 percent of units as affordable, and that prospective buyers are allowed only minimal benefit from appreciation of their units upon resale.
In her press release, she also makes this argument: ''Provisions in the ordinance governing rental housing require income limits on all occupants of an IZ unit, which forces people living in IZ units to select roommates based on financial status rather than for traditional reasons.''
Mayoral spokesman George Twigg says the mayor considers his IZ revision package only ''a starting point'' and remains ''open to suggestions'' for further improvements. Pointing out that since the law's enactment, builders have put about 50 affordable units on the market, with none sold yet to eligible families, Capital Times columnist Mike Ivey thinks buyers are not interested because they have ''a lot of other options these days,'' without strings attached.
Due partly to rapid condo conversions, the number of Dane County homes listed for sale in October reached 3,720 -- 55 percent more than a year earlier and almost 200 percent more than two years ago -- hundreds of them available to ''just about everyone with a job and a decent credit rating.'' Two-bedroom condos on the city's west side are priced at $110,000, with monthly payments of $980, and similar units on its northeast can be bought for $89,400, with payments of $845 a month.
Backing the proposed IZ law overhaul, the columnist cautions that ''any mandates on providing affordable housing in Madison are going to face an uphill struggle when the real estate game turns as it has -- from a seller's market into a buyer's one.'' -- Capital Times
11/22/2005
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