Zion Affordable Housing Newsletter
Zion Lutheran Church in Appleton, in order to fulfill its mission to serve those in need and to meet the changing needs of its own faith community, is pursuing the creation of affordable housing on its campus located on N. Oneida Street. This project is currently slated for 75 affordable rate units in a combination of two new 3-story buildings and the renovation of both Zion’s 1929 and 1962 school buildings. These units will join Zion Place, Zion Lutheran’s 28-unit senior housing facility which was built in the 1980’s, in providing safe, welcoming, and affordable housing for people.
After a year and a half of feasibility work and gathering together those supporting this project, we are finally to the phase of contracting with a group of developers, including a not-for-profit developer which will allow Zion to fund-raise toward completing the capital stack required for this build. Currently, our timeline for this project includes submitting for WHEDA funding in the upcoming round, with occupancy hopefully occurring toward the end of 2027. We appreciate your prayers and support as we walk this path in faith and trust.
Zion Affordable Housing Newsletter
Weekly Update for 11-22-24
This week included many meetings and conversations, including with the Zion congregation, Zion leadership, Planning and Development Teams, and others to inform all that Zion's potential developer had decided not to advance the Zion Affordable Housing project to WHEDA. There was a lot of discussion as to other options, Plan B's, and processing of the information. Bonnie indicated this can be an opportunity for reassessing Zion's plan and deciding what next best steps can look like. To that end, Zion will be engaging further with Carrie Sanders from Hope Community Capital to do some deeper discernment with regard to their campus and possibilities for it. Additionally, some great ideas came out of the Planning and Development Team meeting and Bonnie is pursuing some of those, including the potential for area faith communities to come together to provide seed capital for an endowment fund for affordable housing development low-interest loans.
Several people who've been involved in the affordable housing project attended various meetings related to the City of Appleton's opinion-gathering phase for their comprehensive plan for city development. It was an opportunity for Vicar Jake Czarnik-Neimeier, Gwen Schwandt, Kandie Wilz, and Bonnie to share with city officials the issues the Zion project is running into as we seek to meet the need for affordable housing in our area.
Bonnie also met with Joe Stephenson, an area alderperson and senior planner with East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. We discussed the Zion Affordable Housing Project and shared ideas for moving things forward.
Feel free to email me with any questions or comments as we explore all available options for continuing this project.
UPCOMING MEETINGS:
Tuesday, January 21st, Roundtable Meeting, in person at Zion Lutheran Church in the Fellowship Hall at 4:30-6 pm. Anyone may attend to hear updates on the affordable housing project. We're bumping the next meeting out to January due to the holidays.