Housing Authority Names Temporary Leader, While Another Exec Departs

The board of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Change continues to come to the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM), an agency labeled “troubled” by its federal overseers.

Three of the agency’s top executives have announced their impending retirement or resignation, while only a single board member remains from the public onset of the beleaguered agency’s troubles.

At a special meeting Thursday, the newly constituted board appointed chief operating officer Ken Barbeau as the acting Secretary-Executive Director, the agency’s top post.

“As commissioners, we are steadfast in our commitment to providing safe, affordable housing and enhancing the quality of life for our residents across the City of Milwaukee,” said board chair Charlotte Hayslett in a statement. “That includes ensuring a smooth transition of leadership as we search for a new Secretary-Executive Director.”

The vacancy was created by the retirement, effective Jan. 1, of embattled HACM leader Willie Hines, Jr.

Hines will be followed out by deputy director Fernando Aniban, who announced his resignation effective Feb. 21. Finance director Rick Koffarnus, HACM’s top financial official, is also retiring. Aniban, until 2022, was the organization’s chief financial officer.

Board member Sherri Reed Daniels, a HACM resident, also resigned. She was the chair for the past year, but didn’t appear in person until earlier this month. She would routinely virtually pass the gavel to another member to lead the meeting. At her final meeting, she revealed she had recently completed an extended stay in an intensive care unit. Daniels was first appointed in 2008 and her current term ran through 2026.

The seven-person oversight board currently has only five members, one of several sustained issues flagged by officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in an Oct. 18 letter that faulted both Mayor Tom Barrett and Mayor Cavalier Johnson for failing to act with urgency to fill the board.

HACM, the seven-page letter says, will be subject to a formal recovery agreement with HUD as a result of a formal designation as “Troubled” for the 2022 fiscal year and sustained physical, management and financial issues.

The letter was not publicly released until near the end of the Dec. 11 board meeting. After the meeting, two new board members confirmed to Urban Milwaukee they had not received the letter until they took their oath of office.

On behalf of residents, and often with their support, Common Ground Southeastern Wisconsin has led a campaign for improvement at HACM since March 2023. That has included repeatedly highlighting poor conditions at properties and supporting the filing of a class-action lawsuit by residents of College Court apartments.

The housing authority provides housing to approximately 5,000 households in its own properties and, with federal vouchers, houses an additional 6,000 households in privately-owned properties.

As a result of a federal corrective action plan, HACM was forced to outsource management of its $42 million annual voucher program. HUD found the agency’s voucher program, which provides financial support for individuals to live in private housing, was “at risk for serious fraud, waste and abuse.”

A more detailed audit is expected to be completed later this year.

The oversight board currently consists of Hayslett, Alderwoman Sharlen P. Moore, Karen Gotzler, a public housing consultant, Jackie Burrell, a HACM resident, and holdover Irma Yépez Klassen, an affordable homeownership development director with MGIC.

Commission members are appointed to five-year terms and serve without compensation. Board members are nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the council.