We simply do not have enough affordable housing in Madison and Dane County. This is a topic we cover regularly on A Public Affair. As both the city and the county prepare their upcoming budgets, the issue of how to address housing, especially for unhoused folks, is front and center. On today’s program, host Dana Pellebon speaks with Alder Davy Mayer and Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner. They talk about the different ways that the city and the county have supported and can support the Dairy Drive community, especially as the winter approaches.

The Dairy Drive community was set up by the City of Madison in response to the closure of temporary encampments that were sanctioned in places like Reindahl Park. The unhoused folks who lived in these temporary encampments were experiencing exacerbated health risks due to COVID. So the city opened Dairy Drive to house and provide on-site support. It has been seen as a successful bridge solution, says Wegleitner.

Now, the Dairy Drive campground is in jeopardy of closure as federal COVID funds run out and the city and country are unable to fill the funding gap. Mayer says that this program is important and meaningful enough to continue financially supporting, but elected officials differ on how to do that. There is a Madison Common Council meeting tonight, where the Council will take up a measure sponsored by Alder Mayer to fund the community.

Not investing in projects like Dairy Drive have financial costs, including the costs that come from criminalizing homelessness, says Wegleitner. Meanwhile, the unhoused population is growing, and the amount of beds proposed in the new men’s shelter won’t be able to meet the needs when it opens its doors. They also talk about tax credit housing, housing as a human right, and the process of getting into emergency and permanent housing. But the bigger issue remains, how do we get people into housing when there isn’t enough housing?

Alder Davy Mayer was elected to the Madison Common Council on April 1st, 2025. He comes to the Common Council with 15+ years of experience developing, managing, and coordinating high-value projects and websites in the technology, research, education, and financial sectors. He currently serves as the Web Operations Manager at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center. Mayer graduated with a B.S. in Art and Graphic Design and an M.F.A. in Fine Arts.

Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner represents the near east side of Madison and works for Legal Action of Wisconsin. For the past ten years she has worked as a public interest attorney representing low income tenants in eviction cases and subsidized housing disputes. She has served on the Boards of Tenant Resource Center, the Public Interest Law Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Madison chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, and the Emerson East Neighborhood Association.

Featured image of the Dairy Drive community courtesy of Madison Street Medicine.

The post The Future of Dairy Drive Could Be Decided Tonight appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.