The Salvation Army of Dane County is moving to sell its longtime shelter property on East Washington Avenue and relocate to the West YMCA site, launching a years-long chain of property swaps involving the City of Madison, Dane County, and the YMCA of Dane County. The plan would eventually put a new 87,000-square-foot shelter for women and families where the YMCA's west-side facility now stands, once the YMCA finishes building its new Fitchburg location.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, reporter Nicole Pollack detailed how the deal is structured: Madison will lease the Medical Circle facility to the YMCA of Dane County, and the YMCA of Dane County is constructing a $58 million facility in Fitchburg, with the city intending to buy the property at 5515 Medical Circle. The current West YMCA can remain open until that new Fitchburg facility is complete, and the YMCA plans to move out of the West YMCA facility only after that happens.
Once the YMCA vacates, the City of Madison will sell the property to Dane County, which will in turn lease it to the Salvation Army of Dane County for $1 a year. The Salvation Army will still need to seek city approval for its new shelter before construction can begin.
What the New Shelter Would Include
Under the plan, the Salvation Army of Dane County intends to build a purpose-built shelter and longer-term housing at the West YMCA campus. The new shelter is expected to include 157 beds for single women, 19 emergency beds, and 32 full-service rooms for families, along with community and classroom spaces and supportive services including dental and mental health care.
The Salvation Army has said the new shelter plan retains the same bed counts and services as its earlier East Washington proposal. The organization plans to keep the Shield Apartments, which it opened next to its current shelter, operating as lower-cost housing; those apartments opened in 2024.
Construction on the new shelter is expected to cost about $34.7 million. The Salvation Army of Dane County aims to raise $15 million through its capital campaign and has raised just over $13 million so far. The organization aims to break ground in winter or spring 2028 and open the new shelter by 2030.
Selling the East Washington Property
The Salvation Army plans to put its East Washington Avenue shelter property up for sale and will work with the buyer to keep the current shelter operating in place until the new facility is ready. The organization has worked to replace its aging shelter for well over a decade, per the Wisconsin State Journal's reporting.
Ald. John Guequierre wrote that Dane County is not in a position to purchase the YMCA property immediately, but that Madison is positioned to buy the property more quickly — which is why the city, rather than the county, would make the initial purchase before leasing it onward. Guequierre also wrote that the transaction has many moving parts and that its dates and arrangements may change. Michael Sjogren said the rest of the campus redevelopment was not financially viable on its own, with Madison and Dane County stepping in to help bridge the funding gap. Per Guequierre, the city plans to pay $4.2 million for the property, and the Medical Circle site is eligible for federal economic development tax credits.
Separately, WMTV reported in October that the Salvation Army was eyeing the YMCA's west-side location, with construction unable to start until the YMCA left the site and the new Fitchburg facility reaching completion in early 2028 after construction continuing through 2027. That earlier reporting described a proposed facility with 157 beds for single women and an emergency shelter program for families, funded in part by $13 million the organization had already raised at the time, plus just over $2 million included in the county executive's proposed budget. Those earlier figures came from an earlier stage of planning and should not be read as the final numbers now described for the shelter.
Strain on the Current Shelter System
The scale of local need helps explain the urgency behind the project. The station's report found that the Salvation Army's current single-women's shelter has averaged 110 women a night in a building with just over 140 beds, while its family shelter can accommodate about 36 families nightly even as its waiting list has typically ranged from 40 to 60 families at a time.
Dane County's 2026 Point in Time count recorded 880 people experiencing homelessness, the highest total since the count began in 2009, according to WORT-FM. Of those 880 people, 819 were sheltered at the time of the count, including people in the cold weather hotel program. A preliminary January 2025 count had identified 790 people experiencing homelessness in Madison and Dane County, with 88% in emergency shelters or transitional housing and 12% in unsheltered settings, per the Dane County Homeless Services Consortium. That 2025 count also found 54 families, comprising 191 people, in households with children, and found that people of color accounted for 58% of everyone identified as experiencing homelessness despite making up just 16% of Dane County's population.
WORT-FM also reported that Fair Market Rent for two-bedroom units rose 15% in a single year to $1,694 a month, and that the number of people older than 55 experiencing homelessness climbed 60% since 2023, reaching 217 people in the 2026 count. Nearly 37% of single adults surveyed in 2026 were considered chronically homeless, up from around 25% in past years, the outlet reported.
A Separate City Property Deal
Madison's dealings with the Salvation Army extend beyond the YMCA swap. A March 2026 Common Council summary listed a proposed resolution concerning the city's purchase of a separate property at 3030 Darbo Drive from the Salvation Army, according to the City of Madison. The Salvation Army was also previously reported to be receiving a $2 million grant from the state to help build a new shelter for women and families, per WKOW.
