The number of vacant structures in Milwaukee is estimated at around 4,000, with more than 1,000 “distressed” homes on the books as well.
The cost of empty, often vandalized, properties is great – both in terms of loss of tax revenue for the city and on the morale, economic stability, and safety of the people living in those neighborhoods.
"This is something that not only has implications as far as taxes and city land and whatnot, but people have been removed from their homes," Milwaukee Magazine staff photographer Adam Morris says. "People are no longer living there. It’s very much a human crisis as well as a housing crisis"
Ruins of the City: How the Foreclosure Crisis is Harming Our Most Vulnerable Neighborhoods is the cover story of this month’s Milwaukee Magazine. Lake Effect's Bonnie North chat with the authors, associate editor Matt Hrodey and Adam Morris.
