WHEDA Foundation Awards $513,824 in 2018 Housing Grants

Housing providers to create or improve more than 1,005 beds/units

MADISON – The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) has announced that the WHEDA Foundation, Inc. is awarding $513,824 in housing grants to 29 housing providers throughout the state. These grants, awarded during the WHEDA Foundation’s annual Housing Grant Program competition, help housing providers build new facilities or make improvements to their existing facilities.

“At WHEDA we’re extremely proud to have awarded financial support to housing providers through our foundation for more than 30 years,” said WHEDA Executive Director Wyman Winston. “Our outstanding partners supply safe, affordable housing to persons in desperate need of a place to live. I’m delighted that this year’s grant monies will create or improve 1,005 beds and housing units across the state. 

The winning 2018 grant proposals ranged from a new roof on a 100-year-old shelter in Marshfield, remodeling a community room kitchen at a property in Green Bay, replacing a concrete wheelchair ramp and a handicap accessible door at a Madison apartment building, to upgrading a fire protection system in a new community-based residential facility in Milwaukee. 

Providers in Ashland, Brown, Burnett, Calumet, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Douglas, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Pierce, Rock, Rusk, Walworth, Washington, Waupaca and Wood counties received awards ranging from $5,200 to $25,000. 

WHEDA received 62 applications through the housing grant competition this year totaling $1,305,983 in funding requests, an indication of the high demand and need in Wisconsin. 

“The grants provide a double benefit,” said Winston. “Critical improvements are made to affordable housing for those in need and valued construction jobs will be created as grant recipients hire contractors to complete renovations and upgrades to their properties.”

The annual Housing Grant Program competition is funded entirely by WHEDA reserves using no state tax dollars. Grants are awarded through WHEDA’s Housing Grant Program Fund to nonprofit agencies, local governments, and tribal authorities in Wisconsin whose mission includes meeting the housing needs of low-income or disadvantaged populations including homeless persons, runaways, youth in out-of-home placement, alcohol or drug dependent persons, persons in need of protective services, domestic abuse victims, persons with developmental disabilities, low-income or frail elderly persons, persons with chronic mental illness, persons with physical disabilities, persons living with HIV disease, and individuals or families who do not have access to traditional or permanent housing. 

Since 1985, the WHEDA Foundation has issued 1,116 awards totaling over $23,981,000 to housing providers across the state. Established by WHEDA in 1983, the foundation is responsible for receiving and administering housing grant funds on behalf of WHEDA. Grants are awarded in one of two categories: emergency/transitional housing or permanent housing. 

Click here to see a complete list of the 2018 grant award recipients. 

WHEDA, as an independent state authority, has provided low-cost financing for housing and small business development in Wisconsin. For more information on WHEDA programs, visit wheda.com or call 800-334-6873.