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The Milwaukee Housing Authority has been rocked by scandal in the past year:
- A federal audit report, warning of "risk for serious fraud" inside the agency, was uncovered by the Journal Sentinel in September.
- Residents have staged protests, decrying violence and poor conditions inside housing authority apartments.
- Activists have called on the agency's top executive, Willie Hines, to resign.
Despite its recent challenges, the housing authority is an essential resource for Milwaukee's low-income, elderly, disabled and veteran populations. About 11,000 people rely on the agency for shelter.
It's also incredibly complex. The $354 million agency has an unusual relationship with city, state and federal regulators. Even Milwaukee's top officials aren't entirely sure who's supposed to hold the housing authority accountable.
Here's what you need to know about the housing authority, and the challenges it's facing:
Three key roles in Milwaukee's housing market
The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM) was created in 1944, with the mission of providing affordable housing to low-income Milwaukee residents.
HACM plays three key roles in the Milwaukee housing market:
- Landlord: HACM is a major Milwaukee landlord — mostly renting to low-income, elderly, veterans and disabled tenants.
- Rental assistance provider: Each year, HACM distributes about $40 million in federal "Section 8" rental assistance vouchers to low-income renters in Milwaukee.
- Real estate developer: HACM does general contracting, property management, and real estate consulting through its development arm, Travaux — which is a new and growing business.
Housing authority owns more than 5,200 units, including Westlawn Gardens, College Court and more
With high-rise apartments, townhomes and neighborhoods across the city, HACM is one of Milwaukee's biggest landlords.
In total, HACM owns about 5,200 units across Milwaukee. The majority of those are affordable, while about 1,000 are market rate.
HACM has redeveloped many of its properties, with financing from federal, state and private investors.
The redevelopment of Westlawn Gardens near 60th Street and Silver Spring Drive has been a decade in the making. It's the state's largest public housing community.
Still, many of HACM's buildings are aging and need major repairs. The average HACM property is 50 years old, according to a recent agency report.
Its high-rise apartment buildings, in particular, are in poor shape. Most were built during the 1960s and 1970s.
That includes College Court on the near west side, Locust Court in the Riverwest neighborhood; Lincoln Court in the Bay View neighborhood; and Mitchell Court on the near south side.
6,000 Milwaukee households receive rental assistance from HACM
Last year, about 6,000 households in Milwaukee received rental assistance vouchers from HACM.
These vouchers help low-income Milwaukee residents afford their rent and are designed to give people choices over where they live.
Although HACM handles the paperwork, the funding for those Section 8 vouchers comes from the federal government.
Each year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pays the housing authority about $4 million to administer about $40 million in vouchers.
Federal regulators, however, have lost trust in HACM's Section 8 administrators, after two audits turned up serious problems inside the Section 8 office, including:
- $3 million in bank balance discrepancies, which staff couldn't explain.
- $50,000 in credit card expenses with missing receipts.
- Boxes of tenant paperwork sitting in stairwells and hallways — some stacked nearly five feet high.
As a result, HACM has been ordered to bring in an outside vendor to help the Section 8 office get its books in order.
Tenants speak out, organized by Common Ground
Violence, mold, bed bugs and rats — conditions in HACM properties are a threat to residents' health and safety, tenants say.
The housing authority's leaders have faced mounting public pressure in the last year to improve maintenance and security at these properties.
The push has been led by local nonprofit Common Ground: a coalition of churches, schools, neighborhood groups and other Milwaukee-area institutions.
Common Ground first heard tenants' concerns in 2020, during a get-out-the-vote drive at HACM's Hillside Terrace and South Lawn developments.
Since then, its organizers say they've interviewed 1,700 housing authority residents. Many of those residents say they fear for their health and safety.
Common Ground is calling on Willie Hines, HACM's executive director, to resign. They've also been pushing HACM's board to evaluate whether Hines is up to the job.
Who has oversight of Milwaukee housing authority?
The housing authority sits in a regulatory gray area. It isn't a city agency — but it's not state or federal, either. It's an independent "corporate entity," created by a state charter in 1944.
Most oversight of HACM comes from the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides the housing authority with the bulk of its funding, conducts routine inspections of the housing authority's properties and finances.
The City of Milwaukee does, however, have some oversight power: HACM's seven-person board of commissioners.
Commissioners — who oversee the housing authority and its executive team — are selected by the city. Candidates are nominated by the mayor and approved by the Milwaukee Common Council.
Currently, three seats on HACM's board are sitting vacant. Mayor Cavalier Johnson has the power to choose those replacements.
Milwaukee Common Council President José Peréz, a critic of HACM, has said he's eager to review the mayor's nominees.
So far, the mayor has not announced any potential candidates.
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