SBA 7(a) Assisted Living Feasibility Study in Wisconsin

Wisconsin care homes: low against national loan size, early charge-offs

Wisconsin assisted living homes without on-site nursing took 74 loans worth $73.3 million from FY2017 to FY2026. The state is sixth among states, and the class sits 13 of 39 at home. Our tests marked the median as distinct: $403,000 is only 0.54x of the national reading, with the central loans from $151,250 to $1.1 million. Franchising is limited to 4.1% of loans. The cell is therefore a collection of smaller care homes, and the data cannot say whether they are converted houses or purpose-built.

Holders and counties

Bank Five Nine is the dominant holder in SBA's data, with 16 loans worth $17.2 million. Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation shows 7 worth $1.0 million and Oostburg State Bank 5 worth $1.8 million. The page can list only these three because the rest of the book is scattered. These entries record the current holder. Milwaukee County has 17 loans, Sheboygan and Waukesha 6 each, Washington 5, and Kewaunee and Winnebago 4 each. Approvals were 13 loans and $8.8 million in FY2018, peaked in dollars at $20.8 million on 14 loans in FY2021, and reached 10 loans and $16.3 million in FY2024 before falling to 2 loans and $280,000 in FY2026.

What the floors show

Wisconsin lost 12.7% or more of its approvals to cancellation through FY2024, with no change on the broader reading. Of 38 early funded loans, 7.9% are charged off to date, against 2.6% inside five years, so a good share of the losses arrived once the early period was over. Open loans make both numbers minimums, and the longer-run 7.9% is the more telling of the two.

The classification covers only homes with no nursing staff on site. Wisconsin memory care cannot be isolated, and providers employing nurses sit under other health classes, so mixed-acuity projects need those pages too.

A Wisconsin study should establish the licence type, the resident capacity and the private-pay market within a realistic drive. It should count older residents with means, competing homes and their occupancy, and compare monthly rates with local incomes. Caregiver wages and turnover are the main operating risk, so they should be explicit, and coverage should be tested through a slow lease-up with carrying costs. Winter, rural distances and the draw of Milwaukee or the Fox Valley affect admissions. Because the charge-off gap suggests late trouble, the study should look at year five and beyond, including capital repairs. An appraiser values the home on beds and income, and the study's census assumptions must be defensible on that basis.