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City of Madison

Common Council adopts latest changes to encourage more housing opportunities

posted 

For Immediate Release
October 7, 2025

Three brightly colored houses on a Madison street

City of Madison Alders unanimously approved the latest set of Housing Forward proposals designed to make it easier to build more housing of all types across the city. 

These measures, combined with the Housing Forward proposals that were passed unanimously by the Common Council over the summer, will open the door to potentially thousands of new residential lots and homeownership opportunities across the city. 

We need a diversity of homes, of all sizes and prices, so everyone has an opportunity to thrive in Madison. I want to thank my colleagues on the Council for continuing to work collaboratively on this important issue. The package adopted this evening addresses specific pain points that our Planning and Zoning staff have identified in our code. These are primarily technical fixes that help untangle regulations, so our rules are more straightforward and easier to follow. And we will continue to pursue additional policies that create more housing options.

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Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway

The proposals adopted by the Common Council at its October 7 meeting include:

  • Making adjustments to lot area, lot width, and alley-attached garage rear setback minimums to make it easier to build small residential buildings

These proposals were supported by numerous Madison community organizations, including 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin, AARP Wisconsin, Centro Hispano, The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Madison is for People, the Realtors Association of South-Central Wisconsin, Strong Towns, the Urban League of Greater Madison, the United Way of Dane County, and Working Families Power.

Along with other zoning code changes approved by the Common Council earlier this year, these changes will further support the City’s goal of seeing 15,000 new homes created by 2030. In 2025, a total of 1,681 new homes have been completed across Madison — with another 5,020 homes under construction with building permits being issued.

City staff continue to work to identify additional ways to make the creation of new homes easier and more efficient, including allowing “cottage court” developments and making updates to the City’s Transit-Oriented Development Overlay Zone to further encourage housing development along transit lines.

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