Milwaukee County Lift Program Delivers Improved Housing Stability for 300 Households

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee County Landlord Incentives to Foster Tenancy (LIFT) program launched in 2024 to address the urgent need to increase landlord participation, improve housing stability, and enhance the competitiveness of vulnerable populations. The program incentivizes landlords to create a flexible screening criteria for new tenants. LIFT was developed to work in tandem with Milwaukee County’s rent assistance programs, dedicated to helping individuals and families exit homelessness. This population disproportionately faces numerous barriers to securing the most fundamental need: decent, safe, and affordable housing.

“We all know that housing costs keep rising and economic uncertainty is impacting folks’ ability to get ahead. That’s why my administration is working with local landlords to use more flexible screening criteria that can help eliminate barriers for vulnerable residents to secure safe and affordable housing,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. “This is personal for me; I experienced housing instability growing up and want to support families with this fundamental need. Let’s continue working together to battle the root causes of housing instability and unaffordability through innovative public-private partnerships, so we can create a healthier, safer, and more prosperous Milwaukee County for all.”

With their participation in the LIFT program, landlords have agreed to greater flexibility on background checks, eviction histories, and waivers of application fees. This had led to more opportunities for those who are exiting homelessness. During the pilot, approximately 100 landlords participated in the LIFT program providing housing to vulnerable residents, benefitting nearly 300 households.

“More people-in-need are safe and warm inside a permanent home right now thanks to Milwaukee County’s innovative LIFT Program,” said Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Shawn Rolland, who is a strong advocate of the LIFT program. “Instead of fighting against each other, Milwaukee County has found a way to partner with landlords and encourage them to accept more Section 8 voucher holders as tenants. Best of all, our hypothesis was correct: in our program, Section 8 voucher holders are caring for their property as much as the typical renter – and that’s why we’ve only spent 10% of what we had budgeted. This is a huge win – and I hope these results help to reduce the stigma of Section 8 and motivate more landlords to join us.”

The LIFT program works with landlords to make the most vulnerable residents more competitive in what is continually one of the most demanding rental housing markets for tenants to navigate in the nation. In 2024, the County Board of Supervisors allocated $356,355 to establish the LIFT pilot program and the County Executive signed the legislation into law. LIFT became Milwaukee County’s first formalized risk-mitigation and landlord engagement network, offering:

• Damage reimbursement up to three times the contract rent
• Vacancy loss reimbursement
• Administrative support
• Tenant wraparound supports

“This is an innovative solution to an old problem, bridging the gap for individuals and families exiting homelessness in our rent assistance programs, and connecting them to permanent housing,” said James Mathy, Administrator, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Housing Services. “I applaud the County Board and County Executive for taking action to address housing stability in a real way.”

Despite the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) strong recommendations that Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) implement landlord risk mitigation programs, neither HUD nor any other federal or state entity provides funding for landlord engagement or risk-mitigation programming. Landlords have expressed that they prefer the LIFT program’s local funding structure, noting that Milwaukee County maintains full control of implementation, oversight, and continuous improvement. Nonetheless, if State or Federal entities offer grants/funding for landlord engagement and/or risk mitigation programs for damages, Milwaukee County Housing Services will be well-prepared to seek them as a result of pre-existing models with proven success.

For more information on the program, visit www.LIFTMKE.com.

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.