Eviction Free MKE is a three-year pilot program that provides residents facing eviction with free legal representation.
The program launched in 2021 after Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley signed a bill that established the “Right to Counsel” for eviction cases in Milwaukee.
The Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee and United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County are the lead partners involved in creating the program.
“As you can imagine… [attending eviction court] is intimidating," says Colleen Foley, the executive director of Legal Aid Society Milwaukee. “It's fast-paced, and when something as sacred as your housing is that issue, to have a trained advocate in court to make sure that you're aware of your rights and your obligations is pretty critical.”
But without more funding, the pilot program is set to end at the end of the year.
“This is an incredibly effective program at preventing evictions and homelessness, so we're going to do everything in our power to keep it going for as long as possible,” says Krystina Kohler, United Way’s financial stability portfolio manager.
Before this program, less than 3% of Milwaukee County tenants in eviction cases had legal representation. Now, Eviction Free MKE attorneys represent about 25% of all evictions filed in Milwaukee County, according to an independent study conducted by Stout, a financial analyst company.
The report also found that legal representation significantly impacted default judgments, or when a person’s eviction is followed through simply because they didn’t show up to court.
“The default rate has dropped dramatically here in Milwaukee,” Kohler says. “More than 70% of tenants wouldn't even show up to courts before this program was launched. Now that default rate has dropped from 72% to 32%.”
Stout also estimated the program, which cost around $3 million, indirectly saved Milwaukee County about $9 million from September 2021 to December 2022. Here’s how the report broke down the savings:
- Out-of-home foster care costs: $2.3 million
- Economic value preserved by reducing migration out of Milwaukee County: $2.3 million
- Cost savings related to housing social safety net responses: $2.3 million to $2.6 million
- Retained federal and state funding for Milwaukee Public Schools: $1.3 million
- Cost savings related to Medicaid spending on health care: $800,000
Eviction Free MKE also helps program participants seal their eviction records and regularly hosts free eviction-sealing clinics.
“Over 72% of Eviction Free MKE clients have had their records sealed, which means that if they're applying for a future rental space, they're more likely to get it and there's not that additional barrier,” Kohler says.
Evictions disproportionately affect Black residents, especially Black women.
According to Stout’s study, roughly 63% of eviction filings happened in majority Black neighborhoods. Three-quarters of the program’s clients were women and 76% of those clients were Black women, compared to Milwaukee County’s population, which is only 51% female and 28% Black.
“It's devastating for families to lose their housing, and especially at the breakneck speed that it happens through eviction court,” Foley says. “[Eviction] basically touches every aspect of an individual and their family's life, from how their children succeed — the kids miss a lot of school in an eviction — and whether the parent can hold down a job. It's bad for the community and it's bad for neighborhoods. If we're going to truly be a thriving community, we have to do better.”
Foley says people who are interested in learning more about the program and whether they qualify for free legal assistance can visit their online tool on Eviction Free MKE’s website. She says it only takes two minutes for the tool to determine whether someone is income-eligible for the program.
Applicants must be Milwaukee County residents and have a household income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (for example, $51,000 for a household of three) to be eligible for the program's services.
“At the end of the day, it’s really about dignity for individuals who are facing one of the hardest things in their life and making sure they have a legal advocate and frankly not trusting that the system is going to work as it should, because it often doesn’t,” she says.
Kohler says both United Way and Legal Aid are working hard to secure more funding to keep the program running after this year. The pilot program is funded by American Rescue Plans Act funds and a $1.5 million gift to United Way from the Mackenzie Scott Foundation.
“If this program ends, evictions will go up,” Kohler says. “People with evictions on their records will be more visible to more landlords out there as well, because those evictions won't be sealed. It'll create more homelessness in the community, more pressure on the homeless system, be more expensive for the community in general to cover those crisis services. I can't think of any good outcomes to this program ending.”
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