Reuse Projects Could Help Address Wisconsin's Housing Shortage

Wednesday, May 31st, 2023 -- 1:00 PM

(By Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) -A project in Oshkosh is converting a historic former elementary school into affordable housing, and similar adaptive reuse projects could help address the state’s housing shortage.

According to Joe Schulz with Wisconsin Public Radio, in 2021, demand for rental units reduced vacancy rates and drove up rents nationwide, disproportionately affecting low-income households who struggled to cover rents, according to a 2022 report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Wisconsin is no exception. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, one-quarter of the state’s renter households are "extremely low income," and 69 percent of those extremely low-income households dedicate over half of their income to housing.

The coalition says Wisconsin needs over 126,000 affordable rental units to address the issue. And the American Planning Association says adaptive reuse could be part of the solution.

Jo Peña, senior research associate at the American Planning Association, said demand for certain types of structures changes over time, requiring communities to think about what to do with existing buildings.

"Adaptive reuse is an opportunity to convert what might already be there into something that meets current needs for your community, such as affordable housing," she said. "This approach really helps with preserving historic character and traditional design elements of buildings."

A modest development in Oshkosh could serve as an example of how adaptive reuse can address a community need. Northpointe Development, Invista Analytics and Wesenberg Architects are in the final stages of converting the former Smith Elementary School into a 31-unit low-income housing development, called "Smith School Lofts."

Missy Hughes, chief executive of Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., said adaptive reuse projects aren’t new in the state, but she believes they've been gaining momentum in recent years thanks to incentives like affordable housing tax credits from Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority and historic preservation credits through WEDC.

"These kinds of state-supported tools help to alleviate some of the risk for the developers and take some of the financial burden off of them," she said. A few past adaptive reuse projects across the state include a former metal foundry in De Pere that was converted into loft and townhouse apartments, a train depot in Green Bay that was turned into a brewery and Beloit College turned a former electrical power plant into a student union and athletic center.

The list goes on. When communities can’t find new uses for old buildings, Hughes said it often has a negative effect. "Often these buildings, to take them down would be incredibly expensive. As a result, they just sit there and get blighted and abandoned," she said.

"And often they are right in the heart of downtowns that are trying to rejuvenate themselves." Hughes said that’s one of the reasons adaptive reuse makes sense.

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