Homes MKE program, investment in affordable housing shows promising results

In 2021, Milwaukee was awarded $394 million in Federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. I was proud to lead the effort to allocate $43.5 million worth of ARPA money to support affordable housing projects, including $15 million to renovate vacant houses in the city’s inventory of tax-foreclosed residential properties, an effort that would eventually be branded Homes MKE.

Since the Great Recession, thousands of properties became tax delinquent and were acquired by the city. The city has marketed these properties for owner-occupancy but many were vacant and in poor condition so they were difficult to sell. Many have been demolished thereby reducing available housing stock in Milwaukee, and many others remained standing but were eyesores in their neighborhoods. It was a daunting problem because these vacant and abandoned homes could provide needed affordable housing opportunities for owner-occupants and renters, but the city lacked the resources to make the repairs necessary to render the properties marketable.

ARPA offered us an opportunity to solve this program, and as we start 2024, the results of our investment are starting to bear fruit.

To date six houses have been fully renovated. From those six, two properties have occupants participating in a rent-to-own program, two properties have been sold for homeownership, one property is pending sale for homeownership, and one property is actively for sale for homeownership. Over thirty additional properties are under renovation.

When we held initial discussion around how to allocate ARPA dollars, many noted how this was an opportunity to make a generational impact. I thought there were fewer causes more worthwhile to invest in than affordable housing, and I am delighted by the results shown thus far. We are making homeownership more attainable in neighborhoods across the city, as these fully renovated, affordable houses for owner-occupants are a fraction of the cost of building new homes of similar size.

I want to thank my colleagues on the Common Council and the Department of City Development for working to carry out the Council’s vision, and I look forward to more homes returning to productive use in the future.

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.