Taking Workforce Housing Seriously

A Milwaukee suburb has achieved a rare thing for most cities: a community with a diversity of housing prices, particularly options that are affordable for working-class households. The city of Hartford has accomplished this feat without architectural requirements or developer fees, but with a few rules: developers must provide a mix of housing types and prices in each new project. For its part, the city seeks to make development permitting a quick and predictable process for builders. As a result, Hartford’s housing stock ranges in price from $100,000 to $400,000, about 40 percent of its residents work within the city, and property taxes have fallen each of the last four years.