Milwaukee Housing Authority residents demand audit after alleged rent mismanagement
By Kaylee Staral
On August 28, 2023
MILWAUKEE — On Monday, hundreds of residents spoke out about problems with rent and called for an audit into the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM).
The Housing Authority owns 27 buildings and has 4,000 units dedicated to low-income families and seniors in the city.
Florence Riley has lived in Westlawn Gardens, owned by HACM, for three years. She’s one of many residents who spoke up about problems with their rent.
“I have been charged seven times for a late fee and I have never been late. They reversed it on my paperwork, but they said it was a glitch in the system,” Riley said.
Other residents said they experienced issues with recertifications, lost payments, and questionable monthly rent payments.
On June 30, Common Ground sent a report to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Regional Administrator of 14 alleged cases of “serious rent mismanagement.”
“Those cases are really just the tip of the iceberg. For every story that’s in there, there’s probably hundreds more,” Jennifer O’Hare, Common Ground’s Executive Director, said.
“We looked at their ledgers, we looked at their receipts and their records. All of those things can be documented. It’s not just he-said she-said case. You can really see what happened.”
O’Hare said they invited Regional Administrator Diane Shelley to Monday’s meeting, but she didn’t attend.
“We’re going to go around her and go to our federal representatives. We’re sticking with this until we get justice for residents,” O’Hare explained.
Monday’s event at the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church was put on by Common Ground, an organization made up of 43 local groups that work together to address community issues.
TMJ4 reached out to the Housing Authority, who said they are working to find solutions for their residents after the pandemic left them short-staffed.
“Our rent assistance program was hit particularly hard,” Amy Hall, the Marketing and Communications Officer for HACM, said. “We are working very closely with the HUD local office quality assurance division to see how we can improve our processes and systems.”
The Housing Authority also sent this statement:
The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM) serves over 15,000 residents, and we take any concerns they raise very seriously. HACM strives to keep people housed in safe, high-quality living environments and connect them to opportunities that support self-sufficiency, good quality of life, and other opportunities to help them thrive. We are aware of issues raised by residents, many of which have been resolved, and others that we have been actively working to address with the resources we have available. When other matters are brought to our attention, we will address them as well.
HACM has a substantial number of monitoring, compliance, evaluation, and enforcement requirements already in place. Our Board of Commissioners, which includes resident representation and local leaders in community development, provides governance. In addition, our funders, who provide critical financial and technical support, provide oversight.
HACM’s mission has been to provide critical affordable housing to Milwaukeeans for nearly 80 years. Despite significant underfunding for affordable housing and the recent pandemic, we have continued to be resilient in advancing our mission and providing opportunities for our residents to thrive. We will continue to find solutions and work with our many funding and enforcement partners to ensure safe, healthy living environments for our residents. For more detailed information about HACM’s efforts, please visit hacm.org/media [hacm.org]
Amy Hall Marketing & Communications Officer Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee
Common Ground and HACM residents want the city to address these concerns:
- A detailed investigation of HACM’s rent ledgers to quantify the problem
- An audit of HACM’s policies and practices on rent collection
- Recommendations of reforms to make the system work properly
- HACM to pay back all the money it stole from residents with interest.
Common Ground is planning to speak at a Common Council Hearing on HACM on Monday, Sept. 25 at 1:30 p.m.
This piece was republished from TMJ4.