In October 2011, Wisconsin’s first subsidized affordable housing project aimed at grandfamilies opened in northwest Milwaukee. Envisioned by Oregon-based developer Gorman & Co. as an opportunity to serve the growing number of grandparents raising their grandchildren, the Villard Square complex had everything an intergenerational family might need — affordable rent, modern amenities, on-site social services, and a public library branch on the first floor. Perhaps most importantly, the apartment building was to provide a built-in community of people facing similar challenges.
Fifteen grandfamilies moved into Villard Square when it opened, accounting for about a third of the building’s 47 available units. Conventional tenants rented out the remainder. But over the years, the award-winning development failed to attract more grandfamilies. A 2014 review of the project by Milwaukee’s IMPACT Planning Council found that the resident grandfamilies felt “frustrated” and “betrayed” because the building was not limited to older adults and grandchildren. Jewish Family Services of Milwaukee, which had maintained a part-time social worker at Villard Square, eventually pulled out, citing a lack of demand from grandfamilies. By 2017, the number of grandfamilies at Villard Square had dropped to 13.
Ted Matkom, Wisconsin market president for Gorman & Co., says the lack of interest from grandfamilies at Villard Square has been “disappointing,” but he believes the housing model still has merit — and the potential to catch on. Goman has proposed another grandfamily housing project in Madison as part of the ongoing Union Corners redevelopment. It would be the first of its kind in Dane County. Another recently announced development planned for Middleton also includes units geared toward grandfamilies, suggesting a burgeoning trend. Matkom says the emergence of the Middleton development speaks to the growing demand for targeted grandfamily housing in the area. “We’re more urban, they’re more suburban,” he says. “I think it’s a perfect dynamic across the Madison-area geography.”
The Middleton project, located at 7635 Lisa Lane on the city’s north side, is expected to be completed by Jan. 1, 2019. The Union Corners project is still going through the city’s approval process; it is expected to go before the Urban Design Commission in January, with final approval coming in March, and construction starting as soon as April 1. No families have signed up yet, but Matkom hopes to have a tenant selection plan within six months.
Local service providers could not connect Isthmus with any families interested in the housing complex, but there is consensus that affordable housing is a major barrier to kinship care providers. Serena Breining facilitates a grandfamily support group that meets at the Rainbow Project, a nonprofit that supports children and families in the Dane County area. She pitched the idea of grandfamily housing to the group last year when Gorman first floated the idea. “At the time, it wasn’t relevant to the grandparents in this particular group, but they were all able to acknowledge that it’s an amazing idea,” Breining says. “It’s opening up the opportunity for grandparents to assume placement, and if it makes that more possible, it’s definitely a worthwhile investment.”
Over the last 15 years, the nation has seen a more than 30 percent increase in the number of children living in households headed by their grandparents, research shows. Experts cite the economic downturn of the mid-2000s and the opioid crisis as contributing factors. In Wisconsin, there are more than 25,000 documented grandfamilies, and within the Wisconsin foster system, 34 percent of children are being raised by relatives or grandparents.
Children who are taken in by relatives — a practice known as kinship care — tend to have better outcomes than children placed in the foster care system. Research has shown children in kinship care have fewer behavioral problems, better mental health and more stability. It also provides opportunities for the child’s parents to remain involved, and there’s a greater likelihood for siblings to remain together. Kinship care is by no means a new phenomenon, but it’s becoming increasingly common for family members to become licensed caregivers. Sarah Lawton, a substitute care supervisor in Dane County’s foster care division, says facilitating kinship care has become “a big, substantial piece” of her job. “It’s a more recent trend,” Lawton says. “It came with the recognition that there’s a lot of care [already] being provided by families for related children.”
When asked what went wrong at Villard Square, Matkom points to two key failures: design and marketing. Because the development came at the height of the Great Recession and grandfamilies were not a proven market, the project’s investor wanted to hedge the tenant mix, asking Gorman to incorporate nine one-bedroom apartments in the building’s design — a move that effectively excluded grandfamilies from living in those units. “That really changed the dynamic of the community,” Matkom says.
Promotional materials advertising the new development did not specifically target grandfamilies. Gorman “put out feelers” to grandfamily support groups, but the project’s reliance on low-income housing tax credits meant that it faced a three-month timeline to secure leases. “You lose tax credits when you don’t get units filled in time,” Matkom says.
The Union Corners project aims to correct those issues. Of the 50 units proposed, all are two and three-bedroom. The development timeline allows for a nine-month leasing period, which will allow more opportunities for advertising and outreach to local service providers. Madison’s recent drive to increase the supply of low-income housing in the city also bodes well for the success of the new project, Matkom says. “That priority by the municipality is key to driving the success of the targeted demographic,” he says. “In Milwaukee, you just didn’t have that.”