Restructing the Housing Committee

Wednesday's Housing Committee was canceled due to a lack of quorum. The inability for the Housing Committee to meet is no surprise to those familiar with the city committees. The committee is one of the largest in the City at fifteen members, and has five seats currently vacant. While some committees fail to make quorum periodically, this has become a regular occurrence. Even in light of the devastating impacts of the Wisconsin's new housing laws, the committee has only met once since August of 2011.

On Tuesday, myself, alongside Alder Verveer, Alder Ellingson, and the Mayor, will be introducing reforms to split the committee into two functioning bodies, and hopefully improve the housing discussion among the City, property managers, and tenant advocates.

The first committee will be titled the Landlord and Tenant Issues Committee. This committee will include seven members; two alders, one representative from an apartment association, one representative from a tenant organization, one student, and two at-large citizens. The role of this committee will be to address landlord and tenant issues including: make recommendations on ordnances relating to rent abatement, statistics on inspections regarding repairs, and other tenant-related topics.

The second committee will be titled the Housing Strategy Committee. This committee will also include seven members; two alders and five citizens. The goal of this committee will develop a comprehensive regional strategy for Madison. The committee will look at increasing affordable housing, and help develop a holistic approach to the housing market in Madison for all households and all income levels.

Input is still needed for the final shape of both these committees. At the very least, this committee change will be reference to the Common Council Organizational Committee and the Housing Committee (if it ever makes quorum).

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