Milwaukee residents blast city’s housing authority over living conditions

For nearly two hours Wednesday afternoon, dozens of Milwaukee residents blasted members of the board that oversees several public housing properties across the city.

One by one, they took to the microphone during a public hearing to complain about bed bugs, roaches, drug dealing activity, windows not opening or closing properly and a host of other maintenance and safety issues.

“It’s as if we don’t even matter to you,” said Roye Logan, who lives at Mitchell Court.

The residents — many of whom are people of color, low-income, senior citizens and disabled adults — have banded together to speak out against the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee, which operates more than 5,200 units across the city. It was the first chance some residents had to address the board of commissioners directly, as they’ve had no in-person meetings since January. 

“These properties are not fitting for us to be living in, but yet still we have to have somewhere to live,” said Vivian Jones, who lives at Lapham Park. “We shouldn’t live in rats and roaches and bugs going around in our apartment. We shouldn’t live with people shaking on our door knobs. We shouldn’t live with drugs being sold in the building where we’re living at.” 

Barb Valley lives at College Court, which has 251 apartments on the city’s west side. She said she’s witnessed drug deals in the parking lot of the property and said she feels unsafe in her own apartment. 

“Why do I have to carry pepper spray?” Valley asked the board. “I’m afraid to walk in the halls, I’m afraid to come out of the building.”

“We need more eyes in these buildings so that we can feel safe,” she added. 

The meeting comes two weeks after a lawsuit was filed against the housing authority for unsafe living conditions at College Court. That lawsuit said residents have dealt with an “endemic infestation of bed bugs and rodents for far too long.”

Carmella Holloway lives at College Court and said she’s lost sleep because of bed bugs in her apartment.

“Why should I have to pay rent where I can’t lay my head,” Holloway asked the board of commissioners.

Housing authority under 2 corrective actions plans

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, currently has two corrective action plans in place for the agency, due to “financial and accountability issues,” according to Brooke VandeBerg, the vice chair of the board. Due to noncompliance issues, it was also announced earlier this year that the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program would be taken over by an outside contractor. 

The public hearing Wednesday was required by HUD so the board could discuss its five-year plan. It comes as other meetings in recent months were moved to virtual or canceled.

Before the public hearing began, VandeBerg addressed the large crowd and said the meeting was a chance to hear directly from residents. 

“We want to rebuild trust in the housing authority,” VandeBerg said. 

The seven-member board of commissioners that oversee the housing authority is appointed by the mayor and then confirmed by the Milwaukee Common Council. However, only four members are currently on the board.

VandeBerg said members of the board have visited different properties, met with community leaders and talked with public housing experts.  In response to concerns raise by tenants, VandeBerg said they will be introducing “additional board oversight.” 

“As we determine what that will look like … I can assure you that we’ll review every aspect of the organization,” she said.  

But after the meeting, Valley said she didn’t buy it. 

“They talk about transparency, well then they by gosh, (they) better do transparency,” Valley said. 

Common Ground, a grassroots activist group, helped organize residents to raise their concerns to leadership. After the meeting, Kevin Solomon, one of the lead organizers with the group, said it was great that residents were able to tell their stories, but more needs to be done to regain trust.

“The board says we want to rebuild trust and that’s great, words are nice,” Solomon said. “We need to see it in action before we can really do that.”

“We have a lot of skepticism about if anything they said is true, if the empathy is real, there’s these looming questions about it,” he added. 

Residents and Common Ground members are also calling for the removal of Willie Hines, the secretary-executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. Hines is a former alder and former president of the Milwaukee Common Council. 

“It’s clearly obvious that there’s still a significant number of unresolved matters that we clearly will address,” Hines said during the meeting. 

Hines did say the new capital fund for the five-year plan has more funding for security cameras, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and pest control at properties. 

But that wasn’t good enough for Logan, who said property managers at the properties are “abusive.”

“HACM’S (Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee) biggest problem is bad management, from the top down,” Logan said. “Yet nowhere in your five-year plan does it discuss how you, as the board, will hold staff accountable.”

After the meeting, Hines said he doesn’t plan to step down anytime soon, telling reporters he’s “here to stay.”