KAUKAUNA, Wis. (WFRV) – Outagamie County is taking major steps to provide affordable housing for people below the poverty line.

The Greater Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity and Rise Apartments have been awarded $2 million to fund construction projects, including 10 houses across Kaukauna, Little Chute, and Appleton, and a 48-unit apartment complex.

Marissa Downs with MF Housing Partners feels with inflation hitting the price of housing hard, this money will go a long way to ensuring low rent for ‘Rise’ apartment tenants.

“When we’re trying to provide this really valuable housing, all of these other levers go up, higher costs and higher rates. We don’t want to raise our rents. We don’t have the ability to just expect that people will pay more, so it feels really good to be able to provide this housing at an affordable rent,” Downs says.

3 of the houses provided by Habitat for Humanity are already under construction, with those projects set to finish in the coming months.

HOH President and CEO John Weyenberg says, “Its so gratifying and rewarding to have the opportunity to help families who never thought they would own a home of their own.”

County Executive Tom Nelson says this is not just about providing homes to people who need them, but growing the county’s workforce.

“Housing is fundamental. If you don’t have a place to rest your heads, to put food on the table, to raise a family, you don’t have much. This is also directly related to issues like workforce development or filling positions in businesses across the area because if you have employees, but they don’t have a place to live, they are not going to stick around that long,” Nelson says.

All of the units will be built over the next 3 years.

If you are interested in applying for the Habitat for Humanity houses, click here.