A new rent-to-own project in Metcalfe Park will give low- to moderate-income families a chance at homeownership

This article describing a new rent-to-own housing project, comes from Wisconsin. I wish all the success to the new program which city officials and local business people have started there. If more communities had the foresight that this city does, well housing would be more affordable.

From the Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee, WI
Posted: April 10, 2007

A new rent-to-own project in Metcalfe Park will give low- to moderate-income families a chance at homeownership. That's a key to stable neighborhoods.

A Madison-based developer is launching a new rent-to-own project in Milwaukee's Metcalfe Park neighborhood that is the first of its kind in southeastern Wisconsin. It should provide a needed boost for this inner city area.

Gorman & Co., in a partnership with the Milwaukee Urban League, hopes to build 30 homes in an area bordered by W. Meinecke Ave., W. Center, N. 27th and N. 39th streets. The homes will be leased to families that qualify for below-market rents of $675 to $825 a month. In 15 years, the homes will be available for purchase at discounted prices.

It's a strategy that has been used successfully in other urban areas and could help spark more activity in Metcalfe Park. "It's a good model for an area that needs catalytic activity," Christopher Laurent, Gorman's Wisconsin market president, told the Journal Sentinel's Tom Daykin. "Clearly, Metcalfe Park has seen a lot of challenges."

Indeed. It's located in one of the city's most impoverished areas. But the bonds of homeownership can help shore up urban neighborhoods. In fact, no neighborhood thrives without those bonds.

"That's absolutely huge," Urban League President Ralph Hollmon told Daykin. "Home ownership is a way for people to invest in something that will appreciate in value."

The $5.2 million project includes $2.3 million in federal affordable housing tax credits, which are given to developers who agree to lease apartments or houses at below-market rents.

Coupled with other city projects to renew Milwaukee's housing stock, the Metcalfe Park project is a welcome development.