The rock singer Meatloaf once opined in a ballad that "Two out of three ain't bad." But for those of us working in affordable housing and community development in Michigan, two out of three ain't great either. The creation of the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund in 2004 gave our industry a long awaited legislative victory but only two out of three bills were signed into law.

The Great Lakes Capital Fund recently joined Northwest Airlines and Wal-Mart to sponsor the 4th Annual "Cherish the Children Ultimate Fantasy Auction." The auction benefits the Children's Trust Fund (CTF), the only independent, statewide nonprofit organization dedicated solely to the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Since 1982, CTF has raised over $80 million and provided support to over more than eight million children and families.

Sixteen years have passed since the Indiana General Assembly initially recognized a serious need for additional resources to be generated for the development and preservation of affordable housing. At that time, a bipartisan effort resulted in creation of the Indiana Low-Income Housing Trust Fund.

The establishment of the Indianapolis-Marion County Trust Fund has come a long way over the past ten years. The housing trust idea really began to receive attention when the city of Indianapolis' Housing Task Force recommended the creation of a local trust fund in a list of recommendations related to housing needs.

The Milwaukee Housing Trust Fund Committee was officially formed in December 2005 by the action of the City Council and given 180 days to make recommendations for a trust fund. The committee is charged with identifying revenue sources and determining how money would be distributed.

Thirty years ago, no one would have imagined that affordable housing would be considered critical enough to the health of a community to dedicate public revenues to solving the issue. Today, it is commonplace. Some 400 housing trust funds exist in cities, counties and states throughout the United States.

For decades, states around the country have pursued efforts to establish housing trust funds that can be managed on a local level and can measurably improve housing and economic conditions for moderate- and low-income families. Ohio was no different. In the 1980s, stakeholders around the state, led by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO), began to aggressively pursue a statewide trust fund program.

Our new development that is bringing positive changes to Milwaukee is Toussaint Square, located on North Avenue on the city's north side. The project is sponsored by North Avenue Community Development Corporation (NACDC) and is located on a city block that previously was 80 percent vacant land.