Housing conference examines smart growth

Smart growth and affordable housing are the focus of this year’s Wisconsin Housing Conference May 21-22 at UW–Madison.

The conference focuses attention quality housing and neighborhoods in Wisconsin. “How Smart is Smart Growth? A Housing Perspective” will feature keynote speakers Witold Rybczynski, professor and prominent urbanologist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Curt Hunter, senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

This year’s conference examines two hot issues in community development: affordable housing and “smart growth.” Critics of rigid smart growth ordinances contend that the land-use restrictions drive up the cost and restrict the supply of housing.

But advocates respond that no such market reaction has been demonstrated. The conference will offer a critical discussion of the Wisconsin’s smart-growth legislation led by UW–Madison Real Estate Department chair Richard Green. It will feature experts on this issue who deal with it on the front lines every day. Representatives from Portland, Ore. — often presented as a leading model for smart growth planning — will report how the housing market there has been affected.

Conference sponsors are the state Division of Housing and Intergovernmental Relations, the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority and the UW–Madison Center for Urban Land Economics Research. Information: (608) 265-2032.