Housing
Advocacy

We believe everyone has a right to safe, affordable housing. But right now, the average Wisconsinite cannot afford the average Wisconsin home. Get involved and help us build a community where all feel they belong.

Want to get involved? Start here:

Join us for La Crosse housing week

Support affordable, inclusive housing

Our Advocacy Goals

Federal

We advocate for housing policies at the national level through action alerts and by attending the annual Habitat on the Hill D.C. Here are our current national priorities:

HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) are resources used to develop new homes and ensure housing affordability for Habitat clients. With increasing land and construction costs and stagnating wages, these resources are vital in providing access to homeownership for working-class families.

The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (NHIA) would provide a federal tax credit to build and rehabilitate homes for lower and middle-income families. Habitat La Crosse could utilize the NHIA to support the financing of new construction or rehab.

State

In Wisconsin, the median home sale price in 2023 is $260k, up from $135k in 2012. The proposed Wisconsin Workforce Housing Program would help break down barriers to homeownership. This is a $100M program designed to provide gap financing for first-time homebuyers with incomes up to 120% of area median income (AMI).

The gap financing is intended to supplement a conventional mortgage and may be layered with other financial assistance programs. It is available for owner-occupied new, recently rehabbed and existing single-family homes.

Habitat staff participate in statewide advocacy by attending Hill Day in Madison every May and participating in monthly advocacy calls with other Wisconsin affiliates.

Local

In collaboration with the Housing Advocacy Committee, Habitat advocates for policies that increase housing access and affordability in La Crosse. We make recommendations to local elected officials to help guide their work. Most recently, we proposed four updates to zoning code that would help increase the supply of houses for local families.