The Issues will be an ongoing series from CREDA Wisconsin’s Public Policy Committee and leadership, offering short, plain‑spoken briefs that highlight the real challenges facing Wisconsin’s commercial real estate industry — and the practical policy work CREDA is doing to address them. Each brief will cover one issue, explain why it matters, and share how CREDA is engaging through advocacy, research, and member input. The goal is to build a living library of reports that members can access, react to, and help shape over time. The Issues will give members, partners, and policymakers a clear window into the problems we’re tackling and the progress we’re making together. A special thank you to Jeff Hoffman, Cushman, Wakefield, Boerke, for his leadership in creating this series!
The Issues: Paper #1: Workforce Housing
Access to workforce housing remains one of Wisconsin’s most stubborn—and most promising—development challenges. With the 2023–25 biennial budget directing $525 million toward new state initiatives, developers were offered fresh tools across Infrastructure Access, Restore Main Street, and WHEDA’s Vacancy‑to‑Vitality conversion program. Yet even as the intent was strong, CREDA warned early that the program’s qualifiers and loan structures could limit real‑world usability. Our new paper takes a clear, candid look at what worked, what didn’t, and what Wisconsin’s development community needs next.
The Issues: Paper #2: Property Taxes
Property taxes are one of the largest recurring costs of owning and occupying real estate. They affect rent, value, financing and whether a project gets built. Wisconsin spent the last 15 years attempting to move away from its reputation as a high-tax state. Levy limits, school revenue limits, Act 10 and disciplined state budgeting all contributed to that change. Property taxes fell from 10th-highest nationally as a share of personal income in 2000 to 21st-highest in 2023, while Wisconsin’s overall state and local tax burden fell to 34th-highest. Yet a separate homeowner measure still places Wisconsin 10th-highest, and the latest levy data are moving in the wrong direction. If property taxes again become an unchecked cost, we should not be surprised when capital goes somewhere else. As we look to 2027 and beyond, will Wisconsin protect the conditions needed to invest here, or make the next project easier to build somewhere else?
The Issues: Paper #3: Tax Incremental Financing (TIF/TID)
The next mixed use city center, industrial park, and/or housing development often depends on infrastructure and site improvements that must happen before construction can begin. Those costs can determine whether an otherwise viable project moves forward or not. As construction and financing costs rise, closing that gap becomes harder. Developments that worked two years ago simply cannot support the inflationary pressures of new construction and the elevated debt service loads given the higher interest rate environment. The conversation of TIF as a “nice to have”, has been replaced with a “must have”, for most new developments to even get out of the starter gate.
CREDA addressed these challenges in spring 2026 with its signature white paper, “TIF in Wisconsin: The State’s Most Powerful (and Most Misunderstood) Economic Development Tool.” The work for 2027 is to turn its key recommendations into action. Communities that have delivered successful development need room for the next investment, financing rules that reflect who carries the risk and a plan for putting available resources to work.
Read The Issues Paper #3: Tax Incremental Financing (TIF/TID)