Milwaukee partnership solves housing inequities for people of color

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee has serious affordable housing issues and systemic inequities for people of color. But a new partnership with the city and local philanthropic partners is working to fix the problem.

A rehab project in Milwaukee's Amani neighborhood is just one example of a collaboration improving the quality of housing for people on the city's north side. 

"Stability in your housing is seen as one of the main indicators of the families' well-being," said Gina Stilp.

Stilp said the Community Development Alliance (CDA) is hoping to fix a systemic problem.

"We have a really huge disparity between Black, white and Hispanic white homeowners in the city – and we have a real affordability crisis and when it comes to rental houses. So the affiliation of funders and practitioners has come together to say, ‘What can we do together to solve this problem?’" Stilp said.

So CDA has created its first collective affordable housing strategy – aiming to help close the homeownership gap.

"We know the problem is very large. We have about 33,000 families in Milwaukee who are paying more than they should be in rent – and we have about 27,000 more homeowners that we need to bring into the fold phone in order to get equity between white people of color," Stilp said.

They are working on strategies to prioritize that for homeownership, rental, and affordability.

"So we are looking at ways that we can acquire properties and make sure we have local, responsible landlords that are maintaining fair and affordable rent. We are also looking at additional subsidy," Stilp said.

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Those are efforts that residents like Barbara Smith applaud.

"We have to change the mindset of some of the residents to get them motivated – and courage to know you can do this and there is support for you to do this," Smith said.

The CDA is spending six months on strategy and then the next six months on implementation – focusing on homeownership preservation and anti-displacement programs, increasing the supply of quality housing units, and preserving existing units for residents based on their income.