Three Oshkosh-area nonprofits are getting help with the kind of work contractors know well: new roofs, new windows, a bedroom addition and a brand-new duplex.
The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority scheduled a check presentation for Monday, Oct. 12, at Becket's Restaurant on Jackson Street in Oshkosh. There, on behalf of the WHEDA Foundation, the agency planned to hand Housing Grant Program awards to ADVOCAP, Greater Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods and Solutions Recovery. WHEDA CEO and Executive Director Elmer Moore Jr. was on the agenda to speak, according to WHEDA's announcement.
All three grants come from the foundation's 2025 grant round, which was awarded last December. Together they add up to $127,794.
Where the money goes
Here's what each group is doing with its share, according to WHEDA:
- Greater Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods received $50,000 to build a duplex for long-term, affordable rental housing for up to eight people.
- ADVOCAP received $27,794 to add a fourth bedroom to one of its homes, replace the siding, windows, doors and floors, and remove trees to fix drainage problems.
- Solutions Recovery received $50,000 to rehabilitate several sober living homes. The work includes roof replacements, lead abatement and a bathroom addition.
The first two were awarded in the foundation's permanent housing category. Solutions Recovery's grant came in the emergency and transitional housing category. WHEDA's full 2025 award list shows the Solutions Recovery project serves 77 beds. The same list counts the Healthy Neighborhoods duplex as two units and the ADVOCAP remodel as one.
About the program
The Housing Grant Program started in 1985, when federal housing and shelter funding was being cut, as a way to pay for capital projects at housing for Wisconsin's most vulnerable residents. WHEDA says the foundation has awarded almost $35 million since then for improvements to emergency and transitional housing.
The 2025 round drew 117 requests asking for a combined $4,405,939. The foundation made 59 awards totaling $2 million, helping 1,515 beds and units, according to the 2025 program page. The awards were made Dec. 10, 2025. The money was split almost evenly: $996,311 for emergency and transitional housing covering 960 beds, and $1,003,689 for permanent housing covering 555 units.
Around the state, the 2025 list reads a lot like a contractor's job board: boiler and HVAC replacements, tuckpointing, a roof on a 12-unit apartment building, new windows, ADA bathrooms and flooring. Other projects called for building out a 16-unit residential facility in Milwaukee and pouring concrete slabs for tiny homes in Barron.
The next round is already in the works. The foundation's 2026 Housing Grant Program will hand out a total of $2 million, with a maximum of $50,000 per project. At least 25% and no more than 75% of the money can go to either category. Groups that won grants three years in a row have to sit out the fourth year. Applications closed July 31, and WHEDA says winners will be announced in December.
The program can pay for rehab, accessibility improvements, conversions and additions, buying land or buildings, and new construction. It can't pay for operating costs, studies or services.
Why it matters for Contractors
These are small grants, but they're nearly all construction money, and they go to the kind of jobs local contractors do every week. A $50,000 duplex grant won't pay for the whole building, but it helps a nonprofit get a project going, and somebody has to pour the foundation, frame it, wire it and plumb it. A siding, window and door job on a group home, roof replacements on sober living houses and lead abatement are all straightforward work for local trades.
Nonprofit jobs usually come with tight budgets and grant deadlines. WHEDA's program page says projects should be finished within 12 months of receiving funds, with an extension form available when problems come up. Contractors who can give a fair, clear quote and finish on schedule help these groups keep their grants and come back for more.
With the 2026 winners due in December, there will soon be another batch of shelter and housing repairs across Wisconsin. If you work with local shelters, housing nonprofits or community action agencies, now is a good time to let them know you're available when their grant comes through.