AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Zion Affordable Housing Newsletter

Weekly Update for 12-19-25

Again, it was a week of meetings for housing groups that are interested in and supportive of the Zion Affordable Housing Project. The Churches United in Care (CUIC) Affordable Housing Lever group, which is currently working on a booklet to be shared with local faith communities that offers resources related to housing and seeks to identify those faith communities interested in supporting local housing efforts met this week to further the work on the booklet. The Zion Project is listed in a couple of places in the booklet so it's an opportunity to spread the word more widely about what Zion is working on. This group also discussed its role moving forward beyond the booklet and plans to discuss that with the wider CUIC at the next quarterly meeting in March.

I also attended the Fox Cities Housing Coalition monthly meeting to hear updates on the current housing needs particularly for people in the lower income range. Additionally, they announced that Wisconsin Balance of State would be hosting their annual conference February 10-12 at the Paper Valley in Appleton, so I forwarded that information to Pastor Jason who did register to attend. Pastor Jason also agreed that Zion joining the FCHC as a paid member would be a good idea so that's in the works. He was also open to Zion becoming a "Housing Champion" for the Affordable Housing Subcommittee for FCHC and potentially being an access point for referring people in need into Appleton's Coordinated Entry system to access housing support and more.

Pastor Jason also shared that he's had some very productive meetings of late, including connecting with Rev. Sarah Jones from the ELCA Churchwide office. She is the director of a new unit dedicated to walking with congregations as they navigate repurposing their buildings. Pastor Jason also had a conversation with Dennis Hanson, VP of Residential/Housing for Lutheran Social Services, which included a tour of the buildings. And one of the developers who recently toured Zion returned for an additional tour with a partner of his. So, progress continues to unfold on many fronts.

Weekly Update for 12-5-25

It's been a few weeks since I've connected with all of you! In the interim, the Real Estate Committee for the Zion Affordable Housing Project met to consider a late proposal from a developer. While that proposal was not complete enough to consider, since then another developer has toured the property and several other meetings have taken place. In other words, things continue to unfold! Faith and trust, folks!

I gave an update on the project to the Fox Cities Housing Coalition's Affordable Housing subcommittee during their Zoom meeting this week, also to the group of people who Zoom monthly to discuss caring for their family members with disabilities which is hosted by Harriet Redman as some of these people are interested in their loved ones maybe living in the housing Zion creates. And the Finance subgroup of the Fox Cities Housing Alliance met at the Appleton library yesterday to advance our initiatives. We made the decision to narrow our focus to two initiatives: assessing the parameters for creating a Community Land Trust and creating a housing loan fund to assist either developers or buyers or both in having sufficient financial resources to pursue building, rehabbing, or buying homes.

In addition, Pastor Jason has hit the ground running with regard to the Zion housing project and has hosted some tours with developers. He also has meetings set up with potential developers, ELCA connections, and others to make additional connections that could benefit the Zion project.

One point I'd like to reiterate at this juncture because it seems some congregation members may have lost sight of this: the Zion congregation does NOT have to pay for all of this potential redevelopment. I understand, as a congregation, you all have been very used to having to do things by yourselves. With this project, that is not the case! There are funding sources that can help make this dream a reality and we are fostering the connections that likely will help us fill any financial gaps in funding needed to make this happen. Again, faith and trust are the foundation on which this project will come to fruition...and the efforts of the very capable folks who have volunteered to move this forward.

Next week I have at least 3 meetings related to the housing project and I'm sure some members of the Real Estate Committee do as well. During this season of Advent, please keep those folks in mind as they shepherd this mission-led project along its path.

Weekly Update for 11-21-25

There were many housing-related meetings this week! Monday was the Affordable Housing Lever meeting for the Churches United in Care (CUIC) group. Paul Nulton led us in going over a document he created to be given to local faith communities which would list all things affordable housing in the area in an effort to help faith communities plug in to ongoing efforts at a level they choose, including repurposing their buildings, participating in projects at other churches, offering funding help, or just keeping apprised of what's being done on the affordable housing front, etc.

Wednesday was the Fox Cities Housing Coalition meeting (FCHC) online which Bonnie had to leave early due to a conflict. This meeting had a very full agenda, including the monthly report on people who were unhoused or at risk for same given by Liz Croley; there was a presentation by Eldridge Alexander regarding the Owner/Tenant Project; and much more.

Today Kristine Giornalista, consultant to the Fox Cities Housing Alliance group (FCHA) held a meeting designed to help align the efforts of CUIC, FCHA, and FCHC. The common thread with these groups is that they are all coalitions advocating for more and easier-to-build affordable housing. By the end of the meeting, we had agreed the Alliance was uniquely positioned to oversee a lot of what's happening in the affordable housing arena and communicating and advocating in such a way that all other groups could mobilize around common goals, share their unique expertise, and streamline the use of resources to be more efficient. We will continue to meet to clarify roles moving forward and collaborate more effectively.

With regard to the developers who are still working on proposals, Zion is getting them what they need to complete their proposals and get them submitted for review by the Zion Real Estate Committee. Bonnie did have conversations with various individuals around the next best steps, but Divine Right Timing continues to exercise its hold on this project to be sure!

Weekly Update for 11-14-25

This week saw more activity related to the housing project. Bonnie and Kandie met to update each other on progress made and meetings held. Both had met with Zion's new pastor, Jason Poole-Xiong, and were excited about potential connections and opportunities for the future of the project.

Bonnie and Kandie also both attended a local Strong Towns meeting held at the Appleton Downtown offices in the Paper Valley Hotel. Norm Van Eeden Petersman from Strong Towns presented on their ideas for helping towns look at current practices that are common, but set towns up for fiscal issues over time; how incremental changes, often through the works of individuals and small groups, can make massive differences for towns; and he fielded questions from those present.

Bonnie did a virtual coffee with a young woman from Milwaukee she'd met on one of Strong Town's training Zooms and they shared about the work they were each doing with regard to housing. This meeting fell into the "it's not what you know, but who you know" category as sharing connections is integral to this work.

Next week there are at least three more meetings related to the housing project and Zion should be hearing from the developers who are submitting late proposals

Weekly Update for 11-7-25

There were quite a few meetings again this week related to the housing project! Monday Bonnie met with Zion's new full-time Pastor, Rev. Jason Poole-Xiong, who expressed his desire to shepherd the Zion housing project forward. We discussed the current status of the project, including the developers currently working on proposals, the potential funding options for this work, and what might be next best steps to take. Pastor Jason was also scheduled to meet with Carrie Sanders, Zion's consultant, and Kandie Wilz, Zion's Project Manager. With some new energy breathed into this project, it's anticipated more forward movement will be happening!

Bonnie also reached out to one of the developers intending to submit a proposal revamp prior to Thanksgiving to see if there was any additional information he needed. He indicated they were continuing to work on their revisions and were looking forward to submitting the updated proposal as requested.

There were several other meetings that took place, including one with people from the Oshkosh area to discuss what they've done to work with their city government to address issues related to housing. An upcoming event that was talked about was Spring Advocacy Day when people from our area travel to Madison to meet with legislators and their staffs to discuss topics of concern, including housing. That likely will occur in April, so stay tuned!

Bonnie also attended a meeting of the Finance Team for the Fox Cities Housing Alliance yesterday during which we discussed four main ideas to potentially pursue related to housing, including creating new financing tools, offering financing for new housing designs and subdivision types, creating a loan pool to assist in financing first-time home buyers getting into homes, and the potential for porting existing residential mortgages with favorable rates into a new home purchase to free up residential stock. Stay tuned for more updates!

Weekly Update for 10-31-25

There were quite a few meetings this week related to the housing project, including Wendy Sachs, Zion Administrator, touring another potential developer around the property. The current deadline for submissions for the developers in this round of the project proposal process is prior to Thanksgiving. Those proposals would then be forwarded to the Real Estate Committee to review and a meeting is scheduled for December 1st at for the Real Estate Committee to discuss those proposals.

Bonnie is also slated to meet next Monday with Zion's new full-time Pastor, Rev. Jason Poole-Xiong, who has an interest and experience with housing issues. Looking forward to coordinating efforts on Zion's project and continuing to move things forward. Welcome, Pastor Poole-Xiong!

Bonnie had a highly productive call with Zion's project consultant, Carrie Sanders, Hope Community Capital, today and is looking forward to the opportunity to further refine Zion's vision for their campus which will make it easier for developers to provide more targeted proposals. Despite this whole process taking quite some time, each step taken has been invaluable in narrowing and sharpening the vision for the Zion Project.

Weekly Update for 10-17-25

There were some interesting happenings this week relevant to Zion's Affordable Housing Project. Bonnie attended a "Pulling Together" event focused on community change training sponsored by NeighborWorks Green Bay and Neighborhood Partners. Thank you to Julie Filapek for her efforts to make this event as amazing as it was, including a dinner of many soups! Thank you to First Congregational United Church of Christ for hosting this event in their beautiful space!

In addition to hearing authors of Pulling Together: A Handbook for Community Change, Tom Mosgaller and Mike Breininger, along with Jeff Yost, President and CEO of Nebraska Community Foundation, we also engaged in some activities that were designed to foster the very connections we all need to make our projects happen.

After the event, Lu Sheer, Housing Grant Specialist from Winnebago County, connected Bonnie with Todd Mandel, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development. Per Lu, he and his organization are leaders in creating innovative, safe, and affordable housing opportunities for Wisconsin families. Todd asked if Lu knew any faith-based organizations that might have property to be used for affordable housing and she thought of Zion. It'll be interesting to see where this new connection can take us!

Also this week was the meeting for the Affordable Housing Lever from the Churches United in Care (CUIC) summit which was almost a year ago. Our lever continues to seek to differentiate itself from the other levers so as to avoid duplication of work and to define more clearly what the specific focus of this lever will be. Our current focus is the creation of a brochure for churches to help them know what work is already being done, where needs lie, and offer connections and opportunities for faith communities to join in the efforts to ameliorate the housing issues in the Fox Valley.

Bonnie also discovered another resource through Strong Towns which is a weekly Zoom call entitled "Ask Strong Towns Anything" which included both spontaneous discussion and answering questions that had been submitted. A plethora of interesting and helpful articles were dropped in the chat on this Zoom call and Bonnie is working her way through all of this new information. More to come!

Weekly Update for 10-3-25

Yesterday, some members of the Zion Real Estate Committee, along with Bonnie and Carrie Sanders from Hope Community Capital, met via Zoom with one of the developers who submitted a proposal for the Zion Affordable Housing Project and his team which included his architect, builder, and urban planner. We went over questions related to their proposed plans, how they intended to fund the work, and clarified some of Zion's desires for the project. It was agreed that Bonnie would forward them the floor plans that were generated by Boldt several years ago as we're hoping they'll include the schools in their new proposal which should be submitted around Thanksgiving.

There is also another developer who came to the table late, but the Real Estate Committee is considering in order to have several options to go over. This particular developer is asking for a tour of the property so Carrie will reach out to Wendy Sachs who will likely be the person touring him on the property.

After last week's Update, one of you reached out and asked who the members of the Real Estate Committee were, so here's the wonderful folks who have volunteered their precious time and energy to contribute to this housing effort: Wendy Sachs, Kandie Wilz, Gary Neumann, Sue Bunkert, Gwen Schwandt, Ray Pittman, Molly Kuba, Amanda Kuba, Kyle Moseng, Brianne Connelly, and Tommy Meltz. If you see any of these individuals, please thank them for their willingness to help move this project forward!

Weekly Update for 9-26-25

The Zion Real Estate Committee met on September 24th to review the proposals received and invite developers to present to the committee on their proposals. Their recommendations will then be sent to the Zion Church Council and then to the congregation for a vote.

Two proposals were in hand and another developer had thrown his hat in the ring at the last minute. That final developer did not provide the information necessary to consider his proposal with the other two so a decision was made for Carrie Sanders, consultant to Zion, to reach out to him with further questions.

Of the two proposals received, one was determined to not align closely enough with Zion's mission and vision and was declined. The other proposal was by far the most complete and innovative, aligning more fully with Zion's mission and vision. Bonnie has reached out to that developer to invite him to present his proposal to the Committee via Zoom next week and answer the Committee's questions that have been forwarded to him. Bonnie is waiting to hear back from him.

Weekly Update for 9-19-25

The official deadline for the Request For Proposals (RFP) for the Zion Affordable Housing Project has passed. A decision was made to allow one additional developer a bit of extra time to submit his proposal, which should happen today sometime.

The Zion Real Estate Committee will be meeting on September 24th to review the proposals received and invite developers to present to the committee on their proposals. Their recommendations will be sent to the Zion Church Council and then to the congregation for a vote.

That's it for this week's update. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact Bonnie.

P.S. I am currently dealing with some significant health concerns for my Dad so am less available than is typical. If you need more immediate attention, please text me as opposed to emailing as I will get it sooner. Thanks for your understanding.

Weekly Update for 9-5-25

This week was, again, more focused on housing activities outside of the Zion Project, and these offer powerful context within which to view the Project as Zion moves closer to the end date for submissions for their Request for Proposals which is September 10th.

Kristine Giornalista, consultant to the Fox Cities Housing Alliance, presented to the Fox Cities Housing Coalition this week and, although Bonnie couldn't be present for the Zoom, Kristine did email out her presentation after the meeting. The Housing Alliance is moving forward with the creation of four Teams designed to align with the Alliance's Vision ("We envision a Fox Cities where everyone has a home that supports their wellbeing and reflects their personal choices") and Mission ("We unite a broad range of stakeholders to ignite change, shape policy and accelerate housing solutions tailored to the Fox Cities"). The four Teams are: Data Team, Community Education & Engagement Team, Improving Regulation Team, and New Financing Tools Team. Bonnie will be a part of the Financing Tools Team which is scheduling their first meeting shortly.

There are two main focal points for the start of the Alliance's work: Entry Level Homebuyers which includes first-time home buyers and buyers in the bottom third of the housing market and Older Adult Homeowners who make up a significant share of cost-burdened (paying more than 1/3 of income for housing) homeowners due to rising costs of insurance, property taxes and utilities yet have limited ability to downsize due to a paucity of appropriate homes to suit their changing needs and an unwillingness to sell their homes that are either paid off or have low mortgage rates to buy a smaller home and incur a higher mortgage.

Some interesting statistics shared included data showing many potential home buyers are being priced out of the market. In 2022, the median single family home was priced at $263,825; in 2025, that figure has risen to $305,500. A first-time home buyer needs at least $100,000 annual income to afford payments on a median-priced home in Appleton. There has been a 18% drop in first-time homebuyer loans compared to 2019.

Clearly the need is there for the kind of work the Alliance is preparing to do!

This week also saw the announcement of an upcoming event in October, Pulling Together: Voluntary Associations in the Fox Cities, being organized by Neighborhood Partners, a program of NeighborWorks Green Bay. This is a learning opportunity around how people can work together to create the change they want to see in their community. This event is focused on supporting the learning of volunteers from neighborhood groups, service clubs, culture/identity groups, civic groups, etc. Two members from each organization are strongly encouraged to register together. Bonnie has submitted an application for attendance as a representative of the Appleton Town Makers group and invited a fellow Town Maker to be that second person to attend. To learn more about this event and whether your organization is appropriate for this event, please contact Julie Filapek at julief@nwgreenbay.org.

Weekly Update for 8-29-25

Several interesting things came up this week! Strong Towns, which sponsors Appleton's Town Makers group, which is designed to support small and mid-sized developers in creating projects for housing and commercial businesses that lead to more robust cities, is going on Tour! Strong Towns will be traveling to some of the cities and towns which are working their program to raise the profile of this process and bring greater awareness to this work. Their motto is, "When Strong Towns comes to a community, something happens". We've applied to be one of those communities and hopefully we'll be selected for this honor. Stay tuned!

Another wonderful happening in the world of Appleton housing that was announced was the bequeathing of 10 properties to Pillars by Richard Reetz. To quote the announcement,

"This is the largest single addition to Pillars’ property portfolio, increasing it by 26%. This donation aligns with the organization’s strategy to relieve program bottlenecks and keep people out of shelter and in stable housing.

Reetz was a lifelong Appleton resident and landlord for over 50 years. His passion for this community could be attributed to his Depression-Era upbringing and the core values instilled in him by his parents.

Reetz’ motivation as a landlord was to invest in his tenants who were often people trying to find a place to land on their feet. His relationships were built on a handshake and trust. He was the epitome of professionalism and fairness up until the very end of his life.

“Dick gave people a chance when others would not,” said Reetz’ stepson Joe Frank. “He cared about his tenants’ stories and wanted to help get them on their feet. He had a genuine interest in people.”

Pillars’ Executive Director Lisa Strandberg said, “Pillars is very proud to carry on Richard’s legacy of providing housing to those who need it at an affordable level.”

Toward the end of his life, Reetz was approached by developers looking to purchase his properties but that was never the outcome he wanted. Frank explained, “Donating these units to Pillars was the only solution he had in his heart…The last thing he wanted was to displace people.”

Pillars will integrate the properties with a mindful approach to current tenants’ unique situations.

“This transformative gift expands Pillars’ reach in a meaningful way, helping to serve more individuals and families working toward stability and a place to call home,” said Steve Williams, Board President of Pillars."

Hopefully this will encourage others to consider bequeathing property in ways that benefit those in need of housing. This could certainly include some faith communities as well as individuals.

Also of note this week is the City of Appleton's release of the draft of the new Comprehensive Plan showcased at an Open House yesterday at the new Mary Beth Nienhaus Activity Center. City planners and officials shared information on the draft of the Plan and had stations set up for the public to comment on. If you were unable to be at the open house, here's the link to check out some aspects of the draft: https://appleton-comprehensive-plan-appleton.hub.arcgis.com/pages/plan-progress Definitely check out the appendices as there are some interesting drawings of potential options for developing infill projects in particular.

Some of the interesting statistics they shared:

* In Appleton, roughly 1 in 3 rentals are unaffordable as are 1 in 10 ownership units (single family homes, condos, etc.)

*Appleton is projected to need 6800 housing units over the next four years for young professionals, empty nesters, and everyone in between.

* In Appleton in 2023, there were 30,860 households. Of these, 30% were people living alone and 12% were seniors living alone.

City officials indicated there will be an opportunity for those who didn't get to attend last night to offer their opinions on the Plan by completing a questionnaire that will be added to the City website some time today.

Weekly Update for 8-22-25

This was a quieter week which was welcome because there were a lot of follow-ups to do! A few of the developers considering submitting proposals had further questions which required some clarification from Zion leadership and Carrie Sanders, Hope Community Capital. Today Carrie and Bonnie had a phone call with one of the interested developers to further clarify the scope of the potential project and answer his questions about what Zion envisions for the property. Zion is looking forward to seeing the proposals submitted by the September 10th closing date!

One of the most important things to report this week is the City of Appleton's release of the draft of the new Comprehensive Plan and an invitation to an Open House on same for Thursday, August 28th, at either 4 pm or 5 pm. Here's the link so you can preview the invitation and the potential Plan: https://www.planappleton.org/ The actual plan can be seen by scrolling down on the invitation page to where it says "View Plan". Here's hoping a lot of us can be present and offer our feedback on the Plan, particularly as it relates to Zion Lutheran's plan for Affordable Housing being able to move forward.

Also this week there was a Real Estate Committee meeting for the Affordable Housing Project at Zion which was very helpful in terms of clarifying roles and reviewing the current submissions received for the Request for Proposals for Affordable Housing Projects utilizing Zion's property. Slightly less than 3 weeks until proposals are due!

Weekly Update for 8-15-25

This has been a busy week! Vicar Jake, Wendy Sachs and Bonnie conducted an additional tour with a local small developer on Monday. This is the final week of tours prior to our September 10th deadline for the submission of proposals for developing some or all of the Zion campus. Proposals that prioritize Zion's mission and vision are being strongly encouraged. Again, Zion may potentially select several proposals if they are for different sections of the campus and fit together with each other and with Zion's mission and vision.

Wednesday began the 2nd annual round of monthly Town Makers meetings, sponsored by AARP and Strong Towns, to cultivate small developers who will fill in the gaps in the current developer pool. These small developers are mainly focusing on infill projects, missing middle housing, and the like. Many thanks to Rick Carpenter from the Appleton Redevelopment Authority and Josh Lambrecht, local alderperson, for attending our meeting! Brian Rasmussen shared information on both a prototype project for a four-unit new build in Appleton and on Michigan's Municipal League which has created pre-approved plans for buildings that accommodate current building codes which are designed to streamline the process of building homes. We're hoping to have them present to our group on their process so that we may replicate it in some way in Wisconsin. Perhaps Appleton could be a forerunner in this movement...who knows? We also had updates on current projects, including Zion's, and look forward to moving these projects forward this year. Anyone interested in joining our meetings can reach out to Jennifer Stephany, Executive Director of Appleton Downtown, who hosts these events, at jennifer@appletondowntown.org.

Bonnie also contacted Lindsey Smith, Principal Planner for the City of Appleton, with some questions on set-back requirements and the draft of the new Comprehensive Plan that Appleton uses to guide decisions about many aspects of local government, including housing. Lindsey responded with the rationale behind set-back requirements (contact Bonnie if you'd be interested in this information) and stated that the draft of the Comprehensive Plan should be available on the City's website as of a week from today. Also, the City will be hosting an open house event on August 28th for public feedback on the draft plan so mark your calendars and Bonnie has asked for the time and location for this meeting.

Weekly Update for 8-8-25

We're continuing to do tours with smaller developers who are interested in the Zion Affordable Housing Project and potentially submitting a proposal for developing some or all of the Zion campus that's available for development. Vicar Jake is scheduled to tour another small local developer today and one small developer who has toured previously has requested an additional tour which will be conducted next Monday.

The closing date for submission of proposals is September 10th so we will see how many proposals are received by the deadline. Again, Zion may potentially select several proposals if they are for different sections of the campus and fit together with each other and with Zion's mission and vision.

Next Wednesday starts the 2nd annual round of Town Makers meetings, sponsored by AARP and Strong Towns, to cultivate small developers who will fill in the gaps in the current developer pool. These small developers are mainly focusing on infill projects, missing middle housing, and the like. We're hoping in our 2nd year to bring some new projects across the finish line, at least in terms of planning and contracting, including the Long Chen addition, a pocket neighborhood or two, and the Zion Project. Any interested person can attend these free meetings held downtown at the offices of Downtown Appleton, Ste. 100 in the Paper Valley Hotel at 5:30 pm.

Bonnie also attended the monthly Zoom meeting, hosted by Harriet Redman, for parents/caregivers/agencies involved with adults with disabilities. Much of the conversation centered around housing issues and the dire need for more options for loved ones with disabilities. Susan Garcia Franz was encouraging those present to tell their stories to legislators who make the decisions about funding services and projects vital to the quality of life for people with disabilities. She's also hoping to possibly video people telling their stories so the recordings can be used to make the case for more support, including housing options.

Weekly Update for 8-1-25

We've gotten a few comments recently following the hard copy mailing of the 2024 Annual Report of the Community Foundation of the Fox Valley Region which featured Vicar Jake Czarnik-Neimeyer and Bonnie outside of Zion Lutheran Church talking about the affordable housing project as the Community Foundation was instrumental in funding our early efforts to get the ball rolling on this project. There should be a digital version of the report coming out soon and we'll put the link in an upcoming Weekly Update for all of you to read. We appreciated being featured in the report because the more press, the better as we are awaiting replies to our Request for Proposals.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) for developing the Zion campus has been eliciting some responses from area developers. Vicar Jake toured a small local developer this week and there's another small local developer who is looking to schedule a tour as well. An additional developer did reply after some initial interest that their schedule was too full to consider adding another project. Win some, lose some!

Weekly Update for 7-18-25

CUE THE HAPPY DANCE! The Request for Proposals (RFP) has been sent out to area developers, large and small, asking for their proposals for the development of the Zion campus, along with folks who have relationships with developers and can partner on such a project. There are roughly 70 recipients who received the RFP email and we've begun to receive some calls and emails in return with questions so we are off to a great start!

This week Bonnie met via Zoom with the Zion Real Estate Committee to share the final version of the RFP and answer questions. It was a great meeting marked by collaboration, discernment, and enthusiasm as we move things forward.

It was also a solid week for moving things forward on other fronts related to affordable housing, including a Zoom meeting with the Fox Valley Housing Coalition, contact with several people including Paul Nulton and Julie Filapek regarding the affordable housing lever arising out of last Fall's faith-based housing summit, and other such contacts.

Weekly Update for 7-11-25

This week's big news is the Request for Proposals (RFP) has been handed over to Zion Council for final approval, then Bonnie will be sending it out to area developers, large and small, asking for their proposals for the development of the Zion campus. There are roughly 50 recipients lined up for the RFP email, including some individuals adjacent to developers who might have ideas for sharing the RFP with developers currently not on our list. Developers will have 8 weeks to respond if they wish to submit for all or part of the Zion property that's available for development.

Developers will be able to tour the campus prior to submitting, if desired, by contacting Bonnie to set up a date and time. There will be a week set aside for presentations from interested developers to Zion leadership on their proposals and a week of discernment time for Zion before responding to those proposals. Send up some prayers for several good proposals coming our way!

This week Bonnie met with both Vicar Jake and Kandie Wilz to make sure everyone was on the same page with regard to the affordable housing project. Bonnie also attended the final round of the first year of Town Makers, sponsored by AARP Wisconsin and Strong Towns.

Weekly Update for 6-20-25

Apologies for missing last week; somewhere in there the whole week disappeared! The rough draft of the Request for Proposals (RFP) has been handed over to Zion for approval, then Bonnie will need to create the timeline for that prior to sending it out to area developers, large and small, asking for their proposals for the development of the Zion campus.

Many thanks to Paul Nulton for being willing to present the update for the Affordable Housing lever led by the Churches United in Care (CUIC) as neither Bonnie nor Noel Halvorsen from NeighborWorks Green Bay were able to make the meeting on June 10th due to other commitments. Paul also expressed a willingness to assist in developing some funding for administrative support for our lever as neither Bonnie nor Noel have bandwidth to cover administrative tasks as well as the lever work itself. We will be scheduling upcoming Zoom calls with those churches who expressed interest in being a part of the work developing affordable housing through faith-based efforts and a second meeting with churches that weren't able to be at the Housing Summit last Fall, but are interested in participating. We will be looking for those members/churches willing to step into Leadership roles with this work and then will be focusing on education aimed at equipping member churches to develop the unique opportunities faith-based communities have in serving the people most negatively impacted by the housing crisis.

The Fox Cities Housing Coalition did a free presentation on June 16th at the Appleton Public Library from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm on homelessness and housing issues in our area. Gary Neumann and Vicar Jake Czarnik-Neimeyer from Zion Lutheran attended the Housing Coalition on Monday to hear a presentation about the housing needs in the Fox Valley and some ways they can be addressed. The well-attended presentation highlighted some of the challenges faced to provide more affordable housing, including zoning in the city of Appleton and the need for new construction that promotes community and more units on limited available land in the city of Appleton. Statistics were available about housing costs and projects in other cities in the Fox Valley. There was mention about Zion's effort to possibly provide affordable housing on their campus. The session ended with time for questions and answers at the end of the presentation.

That's it for this week's update. There may or may not be an update next week as Bonnie leaves for Iceland on Thursday and will return July 3rd, so things may be quiet for several weeks.

Weekly Update for 6-6-25

This was a quieter week for the Zion Affordable Housing Project. Bonnie has been working on the revamp of the Request for Proposals (RFP) to be approved by the Zion Real Estate Committee and then sent out to area developers, large and small, asking for their proposals for the development of the Zion campus. Bonnie and Kandie are slated to meet tomorrow to put some finishing touches on the proposal.

Noel Halvorsen from NeighborWorks Green Bay and Bonnie discussed next steps forward for their "Lever" for Affordable Housing coming out of last Fall's Faith Communities Housing Summit sponsored by Churches United in Care (CUIC). We will be scheduling upcoming Zoom calls with those churches who expressed interest in being a part of the work developing affordable housing through faith-based efforts and a second meeting with churches that weren't able to be at the Housing Summit last Fall, but are interested in participating. We will be looking for those members/churches willing to step into Leadership roles with this work and then will be focusing on education aimed at equipping member churches to develop the unique opportunities faith-based communities have in serving the people most negatively impacted by the housing crisis. Noel and Bonnie want to thank in advance Paul Nulton for being willing to present their update to the CUIC as they are unable to make the meeting on June 10th due to other commitments.

Yesterday, Bonnie attended the monthly Zoom meeting of parents of adults with disabilities hosted by WisconSibs founder, Harriet Redman. Bonnie was invited to give an update on the Zion Affordable Housing Project and talked about the Project Thrive proposal and some of the difficulties related to creating affordable housing, including Appleton's parking requirements and setback requirements. Bonnie encouraged parents to become more vocal with regard to the needs of their adult children with disabilities and Harriet also talked about the invisibility of this population of their loved ones and needing to raise the awareness around their issues. Bonnie also mentioned the overrepresentation of people with disabilities among Appleton's population of people experiencing homelessness. The consequences of this cohort's invisibility can be dire.

To that end, Fox Cities Housing Coalition will be offering a free presentation on June 16th at the Appleton Public Library from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm on homelessness and housing issues in our area. If you've never heard their presentation, of which the Zion Project is a part, Bonnie would highly recommend it! (The pdf with the invitation is too large to include in this Update, so please email Bonnie if you'd like it sent to you directly).