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18 <br />The Reservoir <br />Located six blocks from the state capitol and the <br />downtown business district in Madison,Wisconsin, <br />the Reservoir development is a resident-managed, <br />limited-equity cooperative that helped to launch <br />revitalization and new market-rate housing in the <br />surrounding neighborhood. Of the 28 units,seven <br />units are designated for low-income residents,14 <br />for moderate-income households,and seven for <br />market-rate units. <br />The city of Madison owned the site and offered it to <br />developers who would meet the city’s development <br />and design criteria,competitively selecting a nonprofit <br />owner-architect team—Madison Mutual Housing <br />Association (MMHA) and Design Coalition,Inc.—for <br />the project. The units are designed as two-story flats <br />and attached townhouses,with architectural details <br />and a density of 18 units per acre that blend in with <br />the surrounding neighborhood. Through a series of <br />public meetings and negotiations over density and <br />design issues,developers were able to overcome the <br />initial opposition of neighbors to the project. In the <br />end,the new housing not only made constructive use <br />of long-vacant land—but also generated subsequent <br />rehabilitation efforts on adjacent blocks where for- <br />profit developers have added about 150 units both in <br />rehabilitated warehouses and in new construction.44 <br />Profile <br />Neighbors of mixed-income housing developments may <br />express concern about the impact of low- to moderate- <br />income housing units on their property values. Yet, <br />numerous studies around the country consistently have indi- <br />cated that affordable housing has a positive or neutral effect <br />on neighboring property values. In San Francisco, a study of <br />3,000 sales of low-cost, for-sale homes built by the BRIDGE <br />Housing Corporation, an affordable housing development <br />company in the Bay Area, showed no decline in the values of <br />properties nearby over a four-year period.38 In the Twin Cities, <br />affordable rental housing developments built in the 1990s <br />made no difference in the property values of neighboring <br />homes.39 And in Montgomery <br />County, Maryland, a comparison <br />by zip code as well as countywide <br />showed no significant difference <br />in price trends between nonassist- <br />ed homes located near assisted <br />units and the market as a whole.40 <br />New affordable housing can <br />improve neighborhood stability <br />and appeal, and in doing do, <br />actually can boost nearby proper- <br />ty values. A study in Minneapolis <br />found that housing developed by <br />nonprofit organizations and then <br />renovated into affordable rental <br />units helped to improve safety in <br />the buildings—and to increase <br />adjacent property values.41 A study <br />of more than 6,000 homes in <br />Wisconsin found that nearby <br />Myth #7 <br />Mixed-income housing brings <br />down the property values of <br />neighboring residences. <br />Fact #7 <br />Mixed-income housing has been <br />found to make no difference in <br />the values of adjacent properties. <br />Located six blocks from the state capitol and the downtown business district <br />in Madison, Wisconsin, the Reservoir is a resident-managed, limited-equity <br />cooperative that helped to launch revitalization and new market-rate housing <br />in the surrounding neighborhood. <br />TH <br />E <br /> <br />D <br />E <br />S <br />I <br />G <br />N <br /> <br />C <br />O <br />A <br />L <br />I <br />T <br />I <br />O <br />N