Recycling The Student Ghetto

In Madison, neighborhood associations in the Vilas and Greenbush neighborhoods sold the University of Wisconsin on idea of encourging faculty and staff to purchase and restore homes no longer viable as student rental properties because of changing student expectations.

Both neighborhoods have plenty to offer families and singles: lakes, the city zoo, the university arboritum, and pre-WWII homes with character. Not a shabby list of selling points in a college town that consistently ranks among the best in the country.

"So, the university hopes to persuade faculty and staff, as well as workers at nearby Meriter and St. Mary's hospitals, to buy the homes, fix them up and live in them.

That would let employees live close enough to walk or bike to campus, cutting down on traffic and pollution, Brown said.

'It also improves that housing stock and keeps the value of those residential neighborhoods moving in a positive direction,' Brown said."