Plan Documents

In August of 2025, the Department of City Development released an updated Housing Element for the City of Milwaukee's Comprehensive Plan. The Plan was approved by Common Council on July 15, 2025 as file number 240402. Thank you to everyone who partcipated in the planning process!

What is the Housing Element?

The Housing Element (formerly known as Growing MKE) is the result of a citywide planning initiative to support Milwaukee’s evolving housing needs. The Housing Element is part of the City of Milwaukee's Comprehensive Plan and replaced the Citywide Policy Plan’s Housing & Neighborhoods Chapter.

We didn’t start from scratch... The vision and policies in our Comprehensive Plan were still relevant today and several recent planning efforts were incorporated. The Housing Element incorporates goals and recommendations from recent housing-related planning efforts across the city to support implementation of policies and recommendations found in the Anti-Displacement Plan, the Collective Affordable Housing Strategic Plan (developed with the cross-sector Community Development Alliance, and endorsed by the Common Council), and the City’s 14 Area Plans.

The Housing Element update to the Citywide Policy Plan includes new commitments and updates previous statements that reflect the housing choice Milwaukeeans desire.

Earlier drafts of the Housing Element were titled “Growing MKE.” The title was updated to align with changes in the plan, which better reflect the goals of meeting the housing needs of existing residents and neighborhoods, as well as those who will call Milwaukee home in the future.