By Demolishing Homes, Milwaukee Hopes To Revive Neighborhoods

Demolition of a city-owned home at 3347 N. 26th St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson has a big vision to “raze and revive” Milwaukee’s neighborhoods.

And judging by the speed by which a backhoe worked Monday morning, the razing part is off to a great start. The reviving portion will take years longer to play out.

Johnson held a press conference at 3347 N. 26th St. to promote the strategy, which starts with doubling the city’s demolition budget to approximately $3 million to raze 180 homes this year.

“To be clear, demolishing a neighborhood blight of and by itself is not the end all, be all,” said Johnson. “I want lots created by demolition to be sites of opportunity in Milwaukee. Perhaps a new home, or some other positive neighborhood assets.”

Johnson was joined by council members Khalif Rainey, Milele A. Coggs and Mark Chambers, Jr., along with Department of Public Works (DPW) Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke, Department of City Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump and Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) Commissioner Jezamil Arroyo-Vega. They watched a crew of city workers knock down a house that has been vacant for more than a decade.

“The goal is to demolish problem homes that put a strain on public safety and resources and revive neighborhoods so citizens can take pride in where they live,” said Kruschke. A newly-created team of six within DPW is tasked with demolishing 45 homes, with a second DPW team to follow later this year, which will be tasked with demolishing another 45 homes. The DNS, by contrast, will continue with its longstanding practice of hiring outside contractors to raze an additional 90 homes. Altogether that would mean 180 homes would be demolished in 2024, with the goal of eliminating a backlog of homes on the city’s raze list, which consists of approximately 400 publicly and privately owned properties. A healthy list for DNS would have no more than about 100 properties on it, knowing that some are ultimately renovated or sold.

The surge in funding, included in the 2024 budget, is being met with support from council members who have the greatest number of blighted homes in their districts.

“This board-up is just an eyesore. This affects the mental health of the people who have to live here on a day-in, day-out basis,” said Rainey, who represents the area.

“While I don’t like demolishing houses at all, I recognize from the calls that I get, from being stopped at stores and in the neighborhoods by residents, even when we do neighborhood walks, too often the problems that exist on a block eminate from a boarded-up, vacant, dilapidated home, whether it’s the crime that eminates from, or the fear that crime will happen as a result of it, or people’s concerns about their own property values and quality of life,” said Coggs.

The alderwoman said the question she gets the most about home demolitions is “when is it going to happen?” She said she hopes people see the resulting lots as opportunity, for new homes or for healing spaces or gardens. She also hopes it sends a message to neighbors that “we do care and we have heard, and we are trying with the resources we have to revitalize their neighborhood.”

Crump said the city doesn’t want to take ownership of homes. “It’s important to know, our department, the city of Milwaukee, is not interested in acquiring properties through tax foreclosure,” said Crump. He said owners delininquent on taxes should reach out to the City Treasurer’s office to enter a payment plan and learn of available resources.

If the city does take ownership of a property, it will first attempt to let the residents stay as renters or sell the property if it is vacant. The city acquired the 1,300-square-foot home on 26th Street getting torn down today back in 2012 through property tax foreclosure and attempted to sell it that same year for $8,200. It found no takers. It listed it again for $3,000, again with no takers. “By 2017, it was clear the property was in far too much dispreair to be sold so it was referred to be demolished,” said Crump. He said in 2021, while they sat on a backlog of homes to be demolished, DCD staff explored placing it in three different home renovation programs or selling it in a revived housing market. “None of those worked either,” said the commissioner, who grew up approximately two blocks away.

But Crump said the tide is turning: “In 2023 the city sold 63 more properties than it acquired through property tax foreclosure.” It sold 223 total properties last year, an amount in line with prior years, but far below a post-Great Recession surge when the city’s inventory ballooned and it sold more than 500 properties in a single year.

“At the Department of Neighborhood Services our mission is to enhance development, engage in our neighborhoods and ensure safety,” said Arroyo-Vega. “Today’s event here on 26th Street is an example of how we can work together to accomplish all of these goals. Razing this property removes dormant hurdles that stifle growth and limit housing options.”

“I want city government to prevent homes from detoriating to the point of demolition and, if demolition is inevitable, to prioritize redevelopment that strengthens neighborhoods in the city,” said Johnson.

The press conference ended with an unusual flourish for an event that spent so much time talking about avoiding demolition. While donning a hard hat, Johnson counted down from 10 while a city worker fired up a backhoe and started swinging at the rear of the house.

The structure was expected to be leveled by the time this article was published, with fill from other city job sites covering the foundation and, eventually, the lot sodded. The concept of razing homes via deconstruction, a more environmentally and job-friendly strategy, remains on hold after years of false starts.

The hard work remains on reactivating the lot, and the block contains several reminders of that challenge. The property, located a block southeast of Century City, is flanked by two other city-owned lots, 3343 N. 26th St. and 3351 N. 26th St. For more than a decade, both have been in city ownership and cleared of any structures. Another longstanding vacant lot, 3379 N. 26th St., is located up the block. Across the alley, a new vacant lot was created last year at 3376-3378 N. 27th St.

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Press Conference