Homes MKE: Milwaukee initiative to renovate city-owned properties
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee elected officials and leaders on Wednesday, April 19 formally kicked off the Homes MKE initiative.
"This program aims to renovate up to 150 vacant, distressed houses in the city's inventory of tax-foreclosed residential properties and add them back to the tax role and return them to productive use," said Lafayette Crump, Milwaukee's commissioner of city development.
Mary Jackson lives in the Milwaukee's Lindsay Heights neighborhood. She said, when she walks outside, she sees a lot of boarded-up houses.
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"I’m tired of looking at the houses that have been burnt down or nobody living in there," said Jackson.
While taking on a fixer-upper is no small task, city leaders are stepping up to help and try to transform some of Milwaukee's poorest neighborhoods.
"I knew many of these properties were quality properties, they had great bones," said Ald. Bob Bauman.
Homes MKE initiative is underway with the help of funds from the American Rescue Plan. Fifty of the 150 homes set to be renovated are either in or near Lindsay Heights.
"Too many people have not had the opportunity to own a home," said Ald. Michael Murphy.
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The city wants to change that.
"This is all about partnerships," Murphy said. "These homes are now going to serve as places for people to generate real wealth. As we all know, the reality is for most Americans, their largest asset is a home. And for all too long in our city, too many people have been left out of that equation."
"They might find out that their housing cost is lower than what they are paying in rent, and we now have first time homebuyers rather than a renter in the same neighborhood," Bauman said.
Homes MKE kicks off near 16th and Locust (Photo by Pat A. Robinson, provided by City of Milwaukee)
The first property being renovated is just a few doors down from Jackson's home.
"I like our neighborhood," she said. "The look is good, but it’s going to give us a better new look when these houses are done."
Bauman said, along with new construction, the projects will remove lead paint in the ground and in the houses. With the help of local contractors and developers he said, having fewer vacant homes could soon be more than a pipe dream.
"These houses will be healthy, will be brand new, with 130-year-old bones," said Bauman. "They will become a beacon of hope rather than a symbol of plight and disinvestment and deterioration."
"The neighborhoods that are the cleanest, the neighborhoods that are the safest, and the neighborhoods that are the healthiest are the neighborhoods that have the most homeowners," said Ald. Russell Stamper.
City leaders said builders have begun in renovations at multiple vacant properties. Anyone interested in the project can find more information on the city's website: