• Establishing an Affordable Workforce Housing Grant program and providing $150 million to provide funding to local municipalities to encourage the development and maintenance of additional affordable workforce housing in the state, including costs for infrastructure projects related to new residential developments, such as water, sidewalks, and sewer. Additionally, municipalities that change zoning criteria in order to support additional affordable housing development would qualify for a bonus;?
• Providing $100 million to create a Municipal Home Rehabilitation Program to award grants to municipalities to renovate and restore blighted residential properties with the goal of increasing available, affordable housing options within the municipality;????
• Providing $100 million to support a revised and more robust Workforce Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program at the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. The revised program would provide low-interest and forgivable loans to low- to moderate-income households to renovate or repair their current home, including lead remediation;??
• Creating a veteran rental assistance program funded at $1 million in each fiscal year;???
• Modifying the State Housing Tax Credit program to help address the need for affordable housing in the state by: (a) increasing the limit on the total amount of state housing tax credits that may be authorized annually by the authority from $42 million to $100 million; and (b) increasing the credit period from six taxable years to 10 taxable years;???
• Extending from one year to three years, the allowable extension of the lifespan of a tax incremental finance district for the purpose of using surplus funds for investments in affordable housing projects. Requires joint review board approval for a further two-year extension; and????
• Modifying tax incremental finance policies to support the development of workforce housing by increasing the amount of a tax incremental finance district?s area that can be comprised of newly platted residential developments to 60 percent instead of the current law of 35 percent.?

Safe, Affordable Rental Units and Housing??
In addition to the governor?s investments to develop affordable housing, Gov. Evers recognizes that renters across the state are facing unique challenges, and the governor?s budget proposes several updates to ensure folks have safe, affordable housing, including initiatives to help renovate existing housing, improve rental unit safety, provide legal aid for evictions, and expand renter protections.?
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The governor?s budget proposal builds on his previous investments during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure Wisconsinites continued to have access to secure, stable housing. In 2021, Gov. Evers created the Wisconsin Emergency Rental Assistance (WERA) program, which provided rental and utility payment assistance to lower-income households to prevent evictions and housing instability. The program distributed nearly $250 million to almost 40,000 unique households statewide. With the WERA program having concluded on January 31, Gov. Evers? 2023-25 budget, in addition to efforts to make rental units safe and affordable, proposes a bold $60 million investment into civil legal aid, focusing on creating a statewide right to counsel in eviction proceedings. ?
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In recent years, there have been countless instances of mothers, individuals with disabilities, survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence, low-income individuals and families, young people and students, aging and older adults, and many others that have been wrongfully evicted, taken advantage of by predatory landlords and left to live and raise their families in dangerous and unhealthy living conditions. Electrical fires and impacts on renters in the Milwaukee community, for example, have been the ongoing focus of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation series.?
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Additionally, from 2011 to 2019, the Wisconsin Legislature passed more than 100 changes to landlord-tenant law, including eroding the ability of local governments to enact ordinances regulating the landlord-tenant relationship and hindering the ability of cities like Milwaukee to manage problematic landlords.?
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Therefore, Gov. Evers is also proposing a comprehensive, multi-pronged package of initiatives designed to address the unique challenges facing Wisconsin renters, including renovating existing housing, improving rental unit safety, providing legal aid for evictions, and expanding renter protections, as detailed below.?

Upgrade Existing Properties??
To ensure Milwaukee residents have access to safe rental properties, Gov. Evers is proposing to provide $5 million to create a Housing Safety Grant Pilot Program for the city of Milwaukee for activities that support the improvement of rental housing safety, including:???