Dread, or a prelude to searching in Madison's world of ostensibly affordable housing

Yahara Flyer | Flight 003 | November 2026

I would like to do some actual reporting in Yahara Flyer about the state of rental housing in Madison, but first I needed to freak out about what my next housing search will look like, because our flawed definitions of affordability are really hitting home for me.

A second, wonderfully florid apple dispatch from Jesse Raub, also known as JR Appleman, in this month's edition of Crane's Croak.

Find it in print while copies last, or subscribe at the $10/month Marsh level or above for the option to receive issues by mail. Please allow me a day or two to get print editions to all our distribution locations. Grab the PDF below if you'd like to read it on a tablet or e-reader.

Dread, or a prelude to searching in Madison's world of ostensibly affordable housing

I've been in my current home on the north side, a rented house I share with a roommate, almost five years now. It's the longest I've ever gone in Madison without having to move. The rent is a steal by current Madison standards. The owners display none of the power-trip condescension I'm used to from landlords. They take good care of the place.

The market will not tolerate this for much longer.

To prepare for fate to catch up with me, I've been looking at local apartment listings. They remind me how fortunate I am. They also leave me stewing in dread.

State laws preempt local governments in Wisconsin from controlling rents and strengthening tenant protections. We can thank a corrupt Legislature, including members who are landlords themselves, for that. We're also up against the deeply flawed logic of federal programs like the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and the deeply flawed norms of affordable-housing policy in general. Despite these real and formidable obstacles, I don't buy that local officials are helpless in the meantime. And for all their talk of addressing this emergency by frantically mashing the supply button, relief is sure coming slow.

More and more people I know are moving up to the north side (most of them buying, some renting) as they get priced out of other neighborhoods in Madison. It's gradually filling in with more multi-unit housing and small businesses. I actually like the idea of having more neighbors—some already friends, some I've yet to meet. It would be great to stay here. But this area is getting more expensive along with the rest of the city.

I check listings for some of the new developments in the area. For instance, Huxley Yards, just off Commercial Avenue. I'm going to use this as an example here, though it's far from a unique case. This development, one of many new projects that are touted as "affordable housing" and supported with $6 million in TIF funding from the City of Madison, is income-restricted. Currently it's only accepting tenants who make less than either 60% or 70% of the Area Median Income (AMI). The AMI the City of Madison currently uses to index affordability is $90,900 for a one-person household. 

So many local news stories about Huxley Yards and developments like it state asfact that the housing they provide is "affordable." Rarely do they actually say how much the rent will be. Developers and politicians are working with absurd official definitions of "affordable," and journalists are taking their word for it.

The View lists a one-bedroom apartment (759 square feet) for $1,440 a month. I'm making just under 60% of AMI. I could theoretically apply for one of these. The security deposit is $300, which I'll admit is a big plus. There's no application fee, but those should be banned entirely.

Right now, $1,440 is nearly a whole bi-weekly paycheck in take-home pay for me. It's 31% percent of my annual pre-tax income. The old "rent should not exceed more than one-third of income" rule becomes "we'll take the full third or damn close."

We've still got to add up other fees. If you have one pet at Huxley Yards, you pay an extra $35 per month and an up-front fee of $350. For each additional pet, add $15/month and $150 up-front. Parking in the on-site garage is $100/month. An in-unit washer and dryer will cost you $65/month. Internet, $75/month. Tenants can purchase renter's insurance through Huxley Yards, $15/month. You can bundle all this for $125/month without parking, or $200/month with parking.

I have one cat. (Have I mentioned that paid Yahara Flyer subscribers get fresh cat pictures in their inboxes every month? Do it for McCoy—he's very handsome!) Add $350 to my security deposit and $35 to my monthly rent. If you suggest I get rid of my cat, go directly to hell. I work from home and need an internet connection. But it better be screamin' fast internet! Add $75 to my monthly rent. I don't have a car, so I can skip the parking. I'll stick with the renter's insurance I already have, because buying it through your landlord just seems weird. And who am I kidding, I'll go for the in-unit laundry. But they better be nice machines! Add $65 to my monthly rent. Laundry and internet combined comes to $140, so I might as well just do the $125/month bundle even if I plan to keep my own renter's policy.

That brings my security deposit to $650 and my monthly rent payment to $1,600. I'm now eating into that second paycheck. Slightly more than one-third of my pre-tax income. Almost double my current rent.

Affordable? Sure, if I scrimp on both luxuries and necessities, enjoy myself less, and fret more about money than I already do, all of which seems to defeat the purpose of affordability. If you make less than the median income and spend one-third of it on rent, you've got less left over than someone who makes the median income and spends one-third of it on rent. This is not just a woe-is-me scenario, though of course you are welcome to behold my woe and shower me with pity. "You can just afford to live here but not enjoy it" is not a great pitch for Madison.

A lot of Madison renters didn't have the financial head start I got in life, and have taken much harder hits. (For instance, the City's 2025 Housing Snapshot estimates that as of 2021, there were 4,490 non-student households that made less than 30% AMI and were officially rent-burdened, which means they paid more than a third of that income in rent. In 2025, the City indexes 30% AMI at $27,270 for a one-person household, so officially affordable rent at that income level would top out at $757.30 per month.) They've already been over-paying on rent for years, all while their income stagnates, and then taken further financial damage from the pandemic, inflation, lousy pay, or emergencies they couldn't afford in the first place. An "affordable" apartment might only give them a chance to keep white-knuckling from paycheck to paycheck.

After getting away with actually somewhat affordable rent for quite a few years, I can't help but see this as a policy failure. Admittedly, the City’s housing strategy includes other forms of income-restricted and subsidized housing. Still, when you hear local politicians tout how much “affordable housing” they’ve helped create, just know the numbers are padded.

It's also surreal that Huxley Yards and other "affordable" developments lean so heavily on terms like "luxury" and "amenities" in their marketing. One income-restricted development downtown, The Flats at 402, uses the slogan "luxury living made affordable" on its website, which must count as the perfection of this form. I saw a listing elsewhere touting "Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring," which screams "sparkling landlord special" to me. I think everyone, including low-income renters, should have access to nice things. A dedicated dog-washing station? Why not. But using that to justify non-affordable rent for income-restricted units is just a grim sign of where housing in Madison is headed.

Where does this leave renters? The wolf is still at the door, but now he knows what upselling is. And he has officially sanctioned metrics to prove how fair he's being.

Special thanks to Olivia Williams and Rachel Litchman for their advice and feedback on this piece.

Crane's Croak: "Appleman Goes Bananas" Edition!

• To love an apple is to love a moment. Variety, yes, creates the potential to tantalize the senses. But terroir… a time and place… a fleeting gesture to the malic gourmands… The late-fall apples have been superb, with the new-to-orchard Winecrisp delivering on its textural eponym, paired with juicy sweetness, deep red-fruit tones, and a tart finish, clean on the palate. Sugar sweetness abounds in the Story—and yet, it’s the Florina that wows. A hearty French variety with tropical undertones, these trees at Blue Roof Orchard are the bee’s knees; or rather, bananarama. They represent the perfect highlight of Isoamyl acetate, the ester that gives bananas their prime flavor, making the Florina a true fruit bomb. But this is not useful information… these apples… they escape permanence, leaving one’s mouth watering for their true return the next season… —J.R. Appleman, detained for "excessive frolicking in an orchard" shortly after filing this dispatch.
• A hideous omen: The nets of the Monona Topgolf location are visible clear across Lake Monona from downtown.
• Submit your anecdotes, observations, bar-reader sightings, and other brief miscellany to Crane’s Croak at: cranescroak@proton.me