Affordable housing plan for office building gets committee approval in La Crosse

The idea of developing apartments for affordable housing in a La Crosse office building has cleared its first hurdle at City Hall.

The Community Development Committee on Tuesday gave the OK on a plan for putting housing in the Marine Credit Union building on Monitor Street.

“Affordable housing is housing that’s designed and made available and affordable to those that are making 80 percent of the county median income or less,” Community Development Administrator Diane McGinnis Casey said. “Supportive housing is really those wrap-around services that really help a tenant be successful.”

McGinnis Casey added that the 30 units planned for the building are not being designed to shelter homeless people, who are in La Crosse.

The full city council has to approve the deal, which could require American Rescue Plan Act funding of around $2.6 million.

McGinnis Casey said work could start on the building renovation in a few months — probably in the spring — but “the sooner, the better,” she noted.