Growing MKE designed with housing in mind
Draft policy would change zoning rules
Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s administration has unveiled a plan to grow Milwaukee’s population − by changing the city’s zoning rules to encourage more housing development.
That draft policy, known as Growing MKE, needs Common Council approval.
City officials are seeking public input about Growing MKE. They say the plan encourages new housing construction, especially affordable homes, while improving Milwaukee’s climate change resilience.
Growing MKE was drafted two years after Johnson first discussed his vision of eventually increasing Milwaukee’s population to 1 million.
In 2020, the Census counted just over 577,000 people living in the city. That’s a 22% decline from the city’s peak, in 1960, of more than 741,000 residents.
Milwaukee is the nation’s 31st-largest city, placing it just behind Baltimore, Maryland, and just ahead of Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to the Census. With 1 million residents, it would be ranked at No. 10 − ahead of such cities as Austin, Texas; Jacksonville, Florida, and San Jose, California.
Note: Johnson and other city officials claim the 2020 Census undercounted Milwaukee. They say a more accurate estimate puts the population at around 593,000.
Milwaukee’s population decline since the 1960s is linked to long-term trends that have affected other older Midwestern cities.