The New Round of Housing Forward Proposals and District 19 Impact

At a June 11 press conference, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and fourteen Common Council members (including me) presented the next round of measures to address Madison’s housing shortage.

Image credit: Office of the Mayor

Three New Measures

There is no single action that will enable Madison to achieve its goal of creating 15,000 new homes by 2030. It requires action in multiple areas that build upon each other. These three new proposals will make it easier to build the types of smaller homes that we used to build and already see in many of the City’s more established neighborhoods.  Whether any property owner wishes to make use of them is their decision. We will have more proposals in the coming years.

• Proposal 1: Allow duplexes or twin homes in all residential areas.
• Proposal 2: Allow more property owners with deep residential lots to split those lots, creating “Backyard Lots”
• Proposal 3: Simplify the permit process for small and medium sized housing developments downtown

Learn More

The Planning staff has created a web page dedicated to these proposals with the details of these proposals and answers to likely questions.

A Public Information Meeting on these proposals will be held virtually at 6:00pm on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, during which City staff will go into detail about what is being proposed. If you are unable to attend, a recording of the meeting will be publicly posted on this page after the meeting concludes. Register Here.

District 19 Impacts

With the exception of the area between Mineral Point Road and the Beltline, most of District 19 has been developed. I don’t anticipate a rush of homeowners taking advantage of the duplex or deep lot proposals. I have had a few inquiries about how they work. Of course, these proposals will be making their way through the Housing Policy Committee (June 26) and Plan Commission (July 7), before they come before the Common Council on July 15 for a final decision.

This map shows the districts that already permit duplex and twin homes in orange. The additional areas where they would be permitted are in yellow. This includes much of District 19.

Image credit: Madison Planning Division

Here is a graphic that presents how a deep lot might be divided to accommodate a second home (or a duplex on one or both resulting lots). This is different than the ordinance change that allows a variety of auxiliary dwelling units (ADU’s). ADU’s are dwellings that are built on a single lot already occupied by a primary dwelling. The ADU remains under the ownership of the primary dwelling.

Image credit: Madison Planning Division

The Planning staff have established a tentative inventory of deep lots, which are noted in the following map. They caution that residents should not rely on the map. Any lot which an owner wishes to divide must be carefully analyzed. As can be seen here, there are many potentially qualifying deep lots in District 19.

Image credit: Madison Planning Division