Milwaukee County has started turning 19 foreclosed homes and properties into affordable housing. Job training is another goal of the program.
Several local governments are trying to stimulate the growth of affordable housing through use of federal dollars from the 2021 American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA.) Milwaukee County is steering some taxpayer money into private, large scale redevelopment projects that promise some apartments for people who meet income guidelines.
But another county effort is trying to place new homebuyers into fixed-up foreclosed properties.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin recently helped put another $5 M into the program. On Thursday, the Wisconsin Democrat toured a house on Maple Terrace in Wauwatosa that is going through major repairs.
Her guide was County Housing Administrator James Mathy who asked, "You kind of want to take a look around?"
Baldwin replied: "Sure. I mean, in my mind's eye, I can see it when they first moved in. How beautiful this would have been."
County officials say the nearly 1,600 square foot, three story house was built in 1916. A few years ago the elderly owner died. He had no relatives and property taxes were owed. The county eventually foreclosed on the house, and has hired repair experts, like Jim Gaillard. He's with Ezekiel Hope, a Milwaukee nonprofit that trains minority firms on rehab projects.
Gaillard told Baldwin that he also trains people who are on work-release from jail.
"And this is a classroom to me. You guys see nice affordable, decent housing for people, first-time homebuyers, things like that. When I look around, I see opportunities for 7-10 tradespeople. I'll be saying to them, "This is how you do a three-way twist. These are the travelers," he explained.
Gaillard is a master electrician.
As renovation on the home just west of 68th Street is completed, the county will look for first-time homebuyers who have been helped by counseling agencies certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD.) Those agencies teach how financing works and how to build credit, among other topics.
Baldwin says she hears all around the state about the need for more affordable housing, especially as companies and communities try to attract workers.
"The idea of what is happening here and the ability to replicate it other places, when successful, and I have little doubt it will be successful, really gives me hope that we can scale up the response to the housing crisis we have," Baldwin told reporters at a news conference following the tour.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley acknowledges fixing up 19 properties isn't the only effort needed.
"We need more partners. We need to tackle this issue, bringing more of our federal partners, as well as the state and the private sector to the table to figure out how do we solve this problem moving forward because it's not going away anytime soon," Crowley said.
On April 7 in Waukesha, Gov. Tony Evers (D) was scheduled to highlight steering federal money toward fixing a house for women and families who are temporarily without housing. Evers also planned to talk about his state budget proposal to increase the supply of affordable dwellings.
Some private sector real estate groups contend over-regulation makes it tougher to develop more homes for lower-income people.
