Women’s Affordable Housing Network launches chapter in Wisconsin

Rachel Snethen and Emily Francis unexpectedly found themselves working on affordable housing in Wisconsin. 

“Almost every single person that I’ve met that works in the affordable housing industry sort of fell into this industry,” Snethen said recently on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

Francis said she, too, “accidentally” discovered the line of work. 

“It’s not something that was talked about very much in high school and college,” she said. 

Now, Snethen is president and Francis is vice president of the Women’s Affordable Housing Network in Wisconsin that launched last month. 

The national nonprofit focuses on empowering women working to expand affordable housing. Snethen said she reached out to the national group because she thought Wisconsin had a need that aligned with its vision.

Last month, the chapter held a kickoff event at Madison’s Union Corners, which is an $85 million redevelopment project that features healthcare services and 252 units for mixed-income families.

Francis served on the Union Corners project as the manager of commercial policy and strategy with the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Authority. 

She said the network’s launch event felt symbolic as it gathered the women who were involved in the multi-phased project, which was completed last year. This included Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.

With Wisconsin’s Women’s Affordable Housing network in its infancy, organization leaders have their sights set on mentoring high school and college students across the state. 

“We want to bring young women into the industry and help connect them to more experienced women,” Francis said.

Wisconsin has about 130 members involved in the state’s affordable housing chapter, Snethen said.

Snethen and Francis said they want more women to work on expanding affordable housing because this line of work has been male dominated over the years. 

Snethen added that she has worked as the director of development operations with Gorman & Company for 14 years and is grateful for having male leaders who challenged her.

Today, she wants women to have more opportunities to grow in their housing-related careers, which could mean being a developer, financial analyst, attorney or accountant. 

“Women are meant to have their place at the table and bring fresh ideas into solving the affordable housing crisis that we’re all facing in this state,” Snethen said. 

Both Snethen and Francis said the demand for housing is growing in urban and rural areas of the state. Snethen said part of the problem is when houses are bought for tourism. 

“(This) sometimes forces people to move out of their small, quaint towns because they can no longer afford to live there,” she said.

Francis and Snethen believe the Women’s Affordable Housing Network in Wisconsin can help grow the housing market.

“There are a lot of relationships that we’re hoping to build,” Francis said. “That ultimately leads to creating improvements throughout the state and building new projects.”