Weigh in on housing affordability in Dane County

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - You now have an opportunity to weigh in on issues around housing in Dane County, and have a chance to win a $25 gift card.

The Dane County Community Housing Survey can be completed online in 7 to 10 minutes. Direct links to the survey can be found in multiple languages here:

Community Housing Survey (English) – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DaneHousingSurvey

Enuesta De Vivienda Comunitaria (Spanish) – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EncuestaDeViviendaComunitaria

KevNtsuamXyuasLubZejZogRauKevVajTsev (Hmong)- https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RHSKevNtsuamXyuasLubZejZogRauKevVajTsev

The survey is just one part of the Dane County Regional Housing Strategy.

“[It] is a yearlong strategic planning process, whose goal is to help expedite the development and preservation of affordable workforce housing in Dane County,” Dane County Planning and Development Department Senior Planner Olivia Parry said.

Parry is a member of this specialized Housing Advisory Committee which is made up of about 70 people, including the Dane County Towns Association, the Cities and Villages Association, as well as the private sector developers, banks, residents, nonprofits.

These municipalities have already been separately working on ways to address affordable housing since 2015.

“So, this is a way to actually leverage the work that’s being done and learn from each other and build on the expertise. So we can do more together than we can do as individuals and housing is a regional issue,” Parry said.

She said the survey will be summarized, analyzed and presented to the Housing Advisory Committee and it will directly inform their decision-making process to develop a vision for housing in Dane County for the next 10 to 20 years.

“One of the biggest questions that we’re really interested in hearing about is where you want to see housing, in your community, and what kind of housing a lot of people you know, we have different housing needs throughout our life,” Parry said. “And so, what are we seeing as the trends you know, where and how?”

She said Dane County is at the peak of the housing cost crisis and now is the perfect time to get more input from the community.

“So, the age of first-time homebuyers has gone from about 23 to about 33 and 34 and even 35 in some cases. So, we’re really at a crisis point and really able to now work together in a way that we wouldn’t have been before because municipalities had not yet started to do this work,” Parry said.

If you do not want to take the survey online, you can call the number 608-301-5465 and answer questions over the phone.

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