Madison nonprofits work to combat widespread housing insecurity in Madison and remind tenants that nobody has to face it alone
Living out of cars, facing unjust evictions or even just struggling to scrape together money for rent each month, too many Madisonians are facing some form of housing insecurity. Notably, the city has a rental housing supply/demand mismatch, leaving those who earn 30% of the area median income or less—an estimated 11,695 “cost burdened” renter households—struggling to afford even the cheapest properties in the city, according to the City of Madison’s 2023 Snapshot Housing Report.
As Madison’s population and housing prices grow, it can feel like there is no solution in sight. But residents can take solace in knowing that a number of local nonprofit organizations are focused on helping people find, and hang onto, safe, affordable housing. On Tuesday, March 4, representatives from Bayview Foundation, Tenant Resource Center, Project Home and Common Wealth Development, came together at the Arts + Literature Laboratory for a conversation moderated by Madison Commons interns Maeghan Chase and Noah Maze. The conversation was part of The Big Share, Community Shares’ annual 24-hour nonprofit fundraising event. Together with their panelists, Chase and Maze, members of a Madison Commons project focused on housing insecurity, discussed underrepresented topics relating to the city’s housing crisis. They also discussed solutions fostered by each organization, the challenges they faced, how the community can get involved and why the nonprofits’ representatives participating in the panel find their work so rewarding.
Here are some highlights from the conversation:
How do you define housing insecurity?
According to Hannah Renfro, executive director of the Tenant Resource Center, “Housing security is the idea that everyone has the right to safe affordable housing.” That idea, Renfro added, is embedded in all of the organization’s work.
The nonprofit, which has operated in Madison for almost 45 years, runs three main programs: health and housing, housing counseling and an eviction defense partnership team.
Project Home is an organization that owns two subsidized housing projects in Madison—one on the east side for individuals with HIV or AIDS, and one in the Allied Dr. neighborhood. In addition to subsidized housing,Project Home performs home repairs, accessibility modifications and energy improvements to help low-to-moderate residents maintain safe and stable long-term housing.
“I would define housing security as the lack of safe housing, the lack of affordable housing. For me that also is the lack of subsidized housing, and a lack of decent, clean, sanitary housing,” said panel participant Caitlin Singleton, a site manager with Project Home.
Common Wealth Development is a violence prevention initiative that started in the late 1970s to mitigate violence in neighborhoods and focus on neighborhood stability. The organization achieves this through an emphasis on healthy housing and rural economic development.
Justice Castañeda, executive director of Common Wealth, defined housing insecurity as “the manifestation of an alignment of misguided political priorities over the last 150 years” pertaining to “basic needs for human beings in the United States.”
Bayview Foundation owns and operates subsidized housing and provides a wealth of social services, including a food pantry, gym and in-depth senior, adult and youth programming, for its residents.
Veronica Vega, the foundation’s family support coordinator, said that housing insecurity is caused not only by a shortage of affordable housing, but also a lack of services and support for tenants and families.
“It’s not only housing, but it’s how we prevent children from losing housing,” Vega said. “It’s helping the kids grow in a healthy way.”
How are your organizations navigating the threat of federal funding cuts?
“We’re always constantly, in the back of our minds, planning for potential cuts in budgets,” Singleton said.
Project Home is especially cognizant of these threats since a majority of their residents earn 30% of the median income or less and are in desperate need of assistance, and without federal funding, that assistance is hard to bankroll, she added.
Tenant Resource Center has also faced significant uncertainty regarding their funding, and that uncertainty is already having a negative impact on the organization, according to Renfro.
“I think one of the important things about the funding cuts is that it’s not just the direct funding cuts that we’re all feeling, but it’s the indirect result of that,” Renfro said. The stress created by the uncertainty sucks up a lot of emotional energy and mental energy, . “it sucks up resources in terms of like, do we have to hire an attorney to look at these things? Do we have to hire a consultant to do this? Are we going to lose staff members because of that stress and uncertainty?” She added.
Similarly, Castañeda was not optimistic about the current state of funding for Common Wealth and other nonprofit organizations.
“So the short answer is: We’re screwed. The long answer is: I think we’re really screwed,” Castañeda said. “Are we going to be directly affected by this? Absolutely, because all the costs of doing business are going to go up significantly. There’s no way I would see how we can ignore that.”
How can community members support your organizations?
Although monetary donations are always welcome, each organization emphasized that there are plenty of other ways to get involved.
Bayview Foundation placed a focus on becoming an advocate for affordable housing and volunteering your time or providing other resources.
“For us, it would be the community learning about the issues of housing” and volunteering, Vega said. “We have the food pantry, we have the youth programming.If you are interested, please go to the Bayview Foundation and you will find a bunch of opportunities for you to do that.”
Renfro, from the Tenant Resource Center, discussed how every individual possesses a specialized skill set, and donating your skills and just a bit of your time can make a big difference for nonprofit organizations.
“If you have a specialized skill set and you could donate an hour a week to work on [an organization’s] website, or if you’re a social media guru, or you’re an accountant” or someone who’d like to serve on a board, “those are real skills that a lot of organizations need consistent help with,” Renfro said.
According to Castañeda, with all of the unique governmental challenges organizations are facing, the community can best help by remaining creative and unified.
“Think about where to freak out, and where there’s opportunity for us to think differently about what we’ve been doing,” Castañeda said. “Innovation is necessary. We need to think together, we need to work together. Now is the time.”
Where do you find hope in your work?
At Project Home, staff members find moments of hope in what might be mundane for others.
“Anytime someone moves in, handing them the keys is the biggest thing. Especially since most of our people come straight out of homelessness and have not had stable housing for a very long time,” Singleton said. “Every time someone moves in, it’s great.”
At Bayview Foundation, supporting young children and families gives Vega hope on a daily basis.
“Every single day, no matter how weak or small it is,” seeing the smile of a child who’s just gotten something to eat after school “fills my heart,” Vega said. “They probably don’t have anything to eat at home, so our program also feeds them before they go home so we are sure they have something in their tummy before they go to bed.”
Tenant Resource Center routinely teaches community members about their rights, and seeing tenants use their new knowledge to make their situation better is one of Renfro’s favorite parts of the work.
“Community education, impact and empowerment—that warms my heart,” Renfo said.
Common Wealth Development is chock full of staff members who are passionate about the work they do and the city they call home, and for Castañeda, that is an everyday source of inspiration.
“I have the privilege of going to work every day to work with some of the most beautiful, passionate people that exist on the planet,” Castañeda said. “They are phenomenal.” To fan these flames of hope and continue this essential work, these nonprofit organizations need your support. Please consider donating at the following links:
Finally, participating in The Big Share fundraising event proved fruitful not only for all four of these housing-focused community nonprofits, but also for Madison Commons. Thanks to the generous contributions of 50 supporters, we raised $5,015 through the event this year, closing our funding gap for 2025-2026.
