CG Slams Mayor Johnson and Willie Hines for Back-Alley Efforts to Privatize Section 8 Without Meaningful Public Input

Today, once again, Mayor Johnson and Willie Hines are sneakily trying to ram through a 5-8-year decision to privatize the $47 million Section 8 program to a Florida for-profit (CVR Associates) via the defunct HACM Board, this time with a sham “public listening session” as attempted PR coverage.

Notably, HACM:

• Announced this 2nd special meeting again with just 24-hours notice (at the end of the day Tuesday, October 29);
• Scheduled the meeting for 4 PM in City Hall 301-B before City Hall closes at 4:45 PM (all of their other meetings are at 1:30 PM);
• Is starting with a sham “Public Listening Session” although they are pre-scheduled to approve the contract;
• Is voting on the contract in Closed Session — clearly they are not proud of the decision;
• Is deciding this contract with just 2 able and current Board members; and
• Is moving forward in the midst of a major election to avoid scrutiny and attendance.

The current HACM Board is defunct. Three seats have been vacant for 22, 19, and 14 months, respectively. Brooke VandeBerg (Vice Chair), who has been on the Board for 6 years and whose term expired 1 year ago last November 2023, recently withdrew her renomination for the Board without justification. Sherri Reed Daniels (Chair), who has been on the Board for 17 years, has long been unable to fulfill her duties. Meanwhile, Mayor Johnson has done nothing to replace them or advocate for tenants.

The Mayor and Hines want to ram this decision through before there is a full Board. As Mayor Johnson told WPR on October 16, he believes it is “unreasonable for HACM to delay” this vote. Ironically, however, HACM’s own Corrective Action Plan to HUD lists a Goal Date of “3/31/2025.” Even if Hines’ allegation (made at their October 9 Board meeting without evidence) is true that HUD ostensibly requires a new deadline of “the end of the calendar year,” HACM has sufficient time to host listening sessions and separately consider the vote with a full Board.

What does this decision mean for Milwaukee? Mayor Johnson and Hines are privatizing Milwaukee’s largest housing safety net for at least a half decade, all because they failed to manage it properly in the first place. Mr. Mayor: we see through your awkward attempt to pretend otherwise to WPR (“The mayor is not an advocate for privatization of public functions… That said, there are appropriate situations when the private sector plays a role at the direction of a government agency”).

Shame on Mayor Johnson and Willie Hines. They know what they are doing, which is why the process stinks as bad as the proposed outcome. Milwaukee would have benefited much more from keeping Section 8 local, not-for-profit, and publicly accountable.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.