Housing snapshot shows renter-majority city, persistent cost burdens and slow homeownership gains for younger households

Planner Colin presented the 2025 housing snapshot to the Plan Commission on March 31, summarizing tenure, affordability, vacancy and homelessness indicators for Madison.

Key findings: the city remains slightly renter-majority; about one-third of all households are cost-burdened (spending more than 30% of income on housing), with roughly one-quarter of renters severely cost-burdened (greater than 50% of income). Colin presented anonymized household examples to illustrate how income, household size and subsidies interact to affect affordability.

The snapshot showed housing supply trends: roughly one-third of new homes completed in the past decade were in buildings of 100 or more units, and about 45% of new development in the past decade occurred in the transit-oriented development overlay, the presenter said. Vacancy rates are trending toward a healthier 5% for rentals, though ownership vacancy remains tight below typical healthy ranges.

Homeownership challenges: the presentation noted steep increases in land and construction costs and higher mortgage rates since 2022. Staff said the city added about 9,500 households under 35 over the past decade but only about 100 of those were homeowners, underscoring the difficulty first-time buyers face.

Homelessness and support: the point-in-time count in January continues to show roughly 600800 individuals experiencing homelessness; city and partner agencies maintain shelters and services while working to move people into permanent housing.

Data caveats and next steps: staff emphasized limits to some sources (census timing, ACS sampling) and said they will continue to refine dashboards and data sharing with partners such as the metropolitan planning organization and the UW Applied Population Lab.