The University of Wisconsin Chabad House is planning to expand its facility to support the growing Jewish community on campus. The property is currently located at 223 W Gilman St. and expansion plans have entered the beginning stages of production.
Director of the Chabad House Rabbi Mendel Matusof said he recognizes the struggles of finding affordable housing on campus. Matusof said that though the building is expanding its facilities, he does not expect it to completely eliminate the crisis on campus.
“It’s minimal,” Matusof said. “I mean that’s the honest truth … We’re getting more and more apartments, but they don’t seem to be helping the cost.”
The Chabad House hosts a variety of student-led events, according to their UW Chabad website. The main goal of the development is to create enough space for their programming to support the ever-growing Jewish community on campus. Matusof said they are already turning people away because the community is extremely large.
“We’re really severely limited,” Matusof said. “We don’t have enough space for our community and for all the students that are coming.”
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The Chabad House is a non-profit organization and all of their contributions have been sponsored by public donations, Matusof said. The organization’s funding is primarily supported by UW alumni, friends and families. The funding for the expansion is still in progress, according to Matusof.
“Everything we do and what we’ve already built has been through donations,” Matusof said. “The plan is to have a capital campaign and fundraise, and it would primarily be UW alumni, families of current students, and potentially local Madison friends.”
The property will likely be managed by one of the local managers, Matusof said. His current focus is providing to the religious community on campus.
The Chabad House is still in the early days of planning for an expansion, Matusof said. It will likely not begin construction until at least a year from now, but they are optimistic the funding to do so will grow over the next few years.
