Jacob Washington's brand-new townhouse at Bayview is unlike anywhere else he has lived.
Washington, his wife and their three young children shared a single room at a family shelter before the townhouse became available at the Downtown low-income housing complex this fall. Now they have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and far more space to themselves.
"Coming from a shelter, locked up in that room, my kids are joyous," Washington said. "The poverty forced my kids to age," he said. At Bayview, they’re free to be kids again.
But what stands out most to Washington isn't Bayview's facilities. What really feels different, he said, is the community.
"People want to be involved here," Washington said. "It's not some type of place where people are trying to get rent from you and don't care about you. They build and work every day for the kids’ sake. They really do. And that’s amazing to me because, literally, I never had this in my life."
The community center at the heart of the Bayview affordable housing redevelopment on “the Triangle” Downtown has opened its doors to the public.
Bright and airy, with big windows and a beachy blue-and-tan color scheme, the $9 million, 11,500-square-foot center was created by and for the people who live there as part of the second phase of the Bayview Foundation’s $60 million affordable housing redevelopment. The foundation is now turning to the third and final phase of the project, which will add a playground, more green space and the last 44 of the development’s 130 total housing units. The expansion is aimed at low-income families who do not currently live at Bayview and is scheduled for completion in February.
The Wisconsin State Journal sees its potential as “one of the coolest places to live” in Madison. WHEDA’s Assistant Deputy Secretary called it a “model” for how safe, affordable housing and services can be provided. And Dane County Executive Joe Parisi noted that it shows development can be “done with communities as opposed to something done to them.”
