In the Milwaukee area and statewide, housing prices have risen much faster than household incomes for several years, while the pace of permitted housing projects has not kept up with existing demand. This has led local and state leaders to implement or consider a range of solutions to boost housing production, from modifying local zoning regulations, to creating state loan programs for qualifying developments, to expanding the types of projects that can qualify for local tax increment financing (TIF) assistance.
Another strategy that local governments could employ to help facilitate multi-family housing construction – and other types of development that bring jobs, services, and revenue to local communities – is to review and consider changes to their development approval and building permitting processes. While many aspects of these processes are tied to important priorities such as ensuring health and safety and conformity with local plans and policies, there may be opportunities to expedite timelines in some cases to advance projects more quickly and reduce their costs. Local governments have a financial incentive to facilitate development, given that annual increases in the portion of their tax levy used for operations are tied to net new construction.
To understand the current policies and practices of local governments in the Milwaukee area – and the amount of time it takes for development projects to advance through required approvals and permitting – we reviewed information and project data from six cities: Milwaukee, Waukesha, West Allis, Wauwatosa, Oak Creek, and Brookfield. In our analysis, we included all commercial development projects that involved new construction, additions, or alterations valued at $5 million or more, which allowed us to capture the most impactful development projects across the selected communities, including most multi-family housing developments. We examined projects of that size that were issued building permits from January 2017 through mid-2025.
Our analysis included consulting with the staffs of all six cities, who provided both project data and written descriptions of their development approval and building permitting processes, and gathering additional data from municipal websites. We then analyzed the project data and synthesized our findings to identify similarities and differences across cities. We gained additional insight through a series of 10 interviews with development professionals, who shared their experiences in advancing projects across the metro area.
Though not comprehensive of all recent development activity in the selected cities, our analysis covers a total of 240 large commercial development projects that together were estimated to be valued at over $4.2 billion when they were approved. Those projects also produced a combined total of more than 8,000 housing units.
We hope that this report raises awareness among local government and commercial development leaders about how development processes and timelines stack up throughout the metro area, what the main differences are across communities and project types, and where there may be opportunities to make improvements.