Prairie Haus Provides Affordable Housing for Working Individuals, Families, Seniors, and Special Needs Residents.
Prairie Haus is a 40-unit affordable housing development located in the heart of New Glarus, Wisconsin. Designed with accessibility in mind, the property includes apartment homes for disabled adults, seniors, and working families. With the support of a $570,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago through its member Johnson Financial Group, the Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corp. (WHPC) development welcomed residents in 2020.
Learn how strong community partnerships—including with local nonprofit Home of Our Own (HOOO) — helped bring this welcoming, thoughtfully designed housing option to life.
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Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago Helps Fund Prairie Haus Construction.
To become a reality, Prairie Haus required funding from multiple sources. The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Authority awarded $5.6 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits to jump start the project. Partners who stepped up included the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago through its Affordable Home Program (AHP), which through its member institutions partner with for- and not-for-profit developers, community organizations, government entities, public housing authorities, and tribal governments to apply for annual grants to subsidize the acquisition, new construction, and/or rehabilitation of affordable rental or owner-occupied housing. AHP subsidy is provided as a forgivable grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, through a member, to a project sponsor
Other funding sources included the CDFI Capital Magnet Fund program, Johnson Bank as the provider of construction and permanent financing and as sponsor bank for the AHP award, and the State of Wisconsin as the federal HOME loan project sponsor. To complete the financial commitments, WHPC and HOOO also agreed to contribute in a variety of ways toward the cost of the project.
