Federal Officials Will Meet With Mayor, Housing Authority, Residents

Southlawn housing complex, part of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Federal housing officials will descend on Milwaukee later this week to meet stakeholders of the city’s beleaguered public housing authority.

Senior U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officials are scheduled to meet with residents and administrators of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM), as well as Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

“I know that there has been ongoing issues with the Housing Authority here,” said Acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman during an appearance at the McKinley School Apartments Tuesday. “In fact, we are going to have senior leadership from HUD that is going to be here later this week to have direct meetings not just with the mayor, but with residents.”

The federally-backed housing authority has been embroiled in controversy for more than a year over concerns about poor building conditions and oversight.

HUD previously issued a corrective action plan for HACM to implement, including outsourcing the management of a Section 8 voucher program that uses public funds to pay for individuals to live in private residences. A 2022 HUD report found that HACM’s voucher management was “at risk for serious fraud, waste and abuse.”

“I know that the public housing team at HUD is working very close with Housing Authority on getting the right plan in place to get the administration of the voucher program done. I think there is still some room there. That has been our big focus in addition to some of the maintenance things we are hearing from residents,” said Todman in a second stop on her Milwaukee tour.

Common Ground Southeastern Wisconsin, a broad-based coalition, launched a public campaign in 2023 calling for changes to the agency. That includes demanding the firing of HACM head Willie Hines, Jr.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson has stood by Hines. Todman said the decision should be left to the mayoral-appointed board.

The mayor joined Todman for the second stop on the tour, which did not include a formal press conference.

“I want to make sure that we’re making progress on issues regarding the Housing Authority,” said Johnson in a brief interview. “Over the course of the last several months there have been changes.” He cited the approval for the Department of Neighborhood Services to inspect properties, allocating extra city funding for maintenance and his pending appointments of new board members.

“I’m hoping that we’ll be able to touch base on some of the things that we’ve made progress on over the course of the last several months and then continue to be open ears about what else we might be able to do to improve the situation,” said the mayor.

Todman told Urban Milwaukee that Richard J. Monocchio, HUD’s top official on public housing, would be among those coming to Milwaukee. Monocchio is formally the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.

“I look forward to having our senior leader of public housing having those meetings and coming back and advising me on what the next steps look like,” Todman said.

In an appearance with Congresswoman Gwen Moore, she also said there is a issue with getting the housing authorities the resources they need.

“Public housing has been underfunded for decades,” said Todman. “The Biden-Harris administration each and every year has put forward robust funding requests to make sure that the Milwaukee housing authority and other housing agencies across the country can get access to the kind of funding they need to fix walls that are leaking, to fix bathrooms and kitchens, things that people need. And each and every year those funding requests are denied. Yes, sometimes it’s all about leadership, but sometimes people need money to put toward the things that I know the residents need.”

Todman previously headed the Washington, D.C. public housing authority and was CEO of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. She has been deputy secretary of HUD since 2021 and became acting secretary upon Marcia Fudge‘s resignation in March.

Todman was in Milwaukee to introduce the Biden administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan, a national, multi-pronged proposal — with $100 million in funding — to increase the supply of new homes and cut costs to construct them.

Look for more coverage of Todman’s visit in an article Wednesday.