The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) and WHEDA Foundation have awarded 42 grants totaling nearly $822,000 to improve special-needs housing across the state. Grant recipients are nonprofit organizations or local governments that provide housing for low-income families or special-needs populations, such as homeless, frail elderly, mentally ill or developmentally disabled people.
Just over $281,000 of the grant total went to 13 organizations that serve one or more of the 26 northwestern Wisconsin counties located in the Ninth Federal Reserve District. These grants will be used to construct or improve 181 housing units. Specific projects include replacing the roof of an emergency homeless shelter, constructing new Habitat for Humanity homes for very low-income families and making handicapped-accessibility improvements to residential facilities that serve disabled adults and the elderly.
The grants were awarded through WHEDA's annual Housing Grant Competition, which is funded through WHEDA reserves. Since its founding in 1985, the grant program has distributed $16 million to housing and development entities throughout Wisconsin.
