HUD launches $100 million competitive home equity fund in Milwaukee » Urban Milwaukee

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is prepared to provide money to cities and states to facilitate the construction of new housing.

“One of the reasons for high housing costs is that we simply do not have enough housing for people,” said acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman during a visit to Milwaukee on Tuesday.

This city was selected to promote the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program, which is entering its second round with $100 million. of grants available to cities across the country. In June, the City of Milwaukee won $2.1 million from the program’s first round of funding to further develop its “Growing MKE” development plan, which is intended to facilitate denser development of targeted areas.

Todman was also here “to see firsthand some of the amazing innovations happening here in Milwaukee,” she said after a tour of the McKinley School Lofts.

The condition of the former William McKinley School, which suffered years of fire damage, was previously described by Gorman & Company officials as “the worst we have ever seen” and by the area’s city council as “the epitome of neglect.” Robert Bauman.

But Gorman, with city and federal support, converted the building into 39 affordable apartments for military families. The conversion will be completed in 2023, and families with qualifying incomes will be able to move in at rents no more than 30% of their household income.

Gorman, said Wisconsin Market President Ted Matcomis now completing the “special part”. Four single-family homes will be built on part of the former parking lot along W. Vliet Street, some of which will be subsidized by the city.

“For years I was terrified that it would be torn down when it just lay there in ruins,” said the congresswoman Gwen Moore. She has a personal connection to the building. She attended McKinley Elementary School when it was part of the Milwaukee Public Schools, and after it was sold to the VE Carter Child Development Corporation, her sons attended daycare there. She now has a granddaughter who lives nearby, in a house where the congresswoman once lived.

Moore supported HUD’s commitment to creating affordable, quality housing in urban areas. “I’m grateful that this housing opportunity is not at 107th and Lovers Lane. It’s right here in our community, right here with access to public transportation and walkable neighborhoods,” the congresswoman said.

Todman and Moore also met with Acts Housing staff at the organization’s Midtown office, where they heard the problems the nonprofit is having with various programs. Mayor Cavalier Johnson took part in this discussion, which was attended by more than two dozen people working in the areas of home acquisition, renovation and home purchase advice.

Todman said that based on feedback from organizations like ACTS, the Federal Housing Administration has begun using “common-sense things” like on-time rent payments as a measure of creditworthiness when issuing mortgages. In addition, HUD has reduced the cost of mortgage insurance by $800 million, she noted.

But Deatra KempActs’ vice president of programs, had many ideas for other ways HUD could make it easier for first-time homebuyers to buy a home. They included more education about otherwise “great” HUD programs and improving down payment assistance programs so they work more smoothly with government-backed loans. “There are too many layers of bureaucracy,” Kemp said. She called for more support from the city and federal government for unconventional new homes, like the Community Development Alliance’s early childhood educator program.

Kemp also said that government-supported city programs, including Strong Homes and a homebuyer assistance program, need to be improved to close a legal loophole that prevents prospective homeowners from using the funds to renovate run-down homes. The programs, Kemp said, require prospective owners to live in the home for a year before they can use the program, but the homes are often not move-in ready.

Hire the CEO Michael Gosman and Vice President Dorothy York said federal funds from the Biden administration, ultimately allocated by the city and county, were critical to launching Acts’ $10 million acquisition program. York said it has acquired 87 homes to date and found at least one seller willing to sell directly to Acts at a fair price, rather than to a landlord. “We make cash offers where the families can’t afford it,” York said of the way Acts buys the homes in a competitive market and then resells them to homeowners.

Board member of Acts Rae Johnsonwho bought her family’s first home through Acts Housing four years ago, also shared her story of how Acts and various programs enabled her to buy and rehabilitate a home. “It was wonderful,” Johnson said. “It was really difficult, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

“I think your story is exactly the kind of story we need to bring back to DC,” Todman said.

After the meeting, she told Urban Milwaukee that the meeting was a “sign that there is more work to be done.” But she said it was encouraging to meet homeowners like Johnson who had taken advantage of the homebuyer assistance programs. “It still begs the question, what else do we need to do? … But what excites me is some of the innovations that are being implemented with HUD funds and HUD programs.”

She praised the city’s “Growing MKE” application, which received the grant award in June, as the kind of innovation HUD wants to see. She praised the plan’s “intentionality” in encouraging more ownership options in different building types and the hope that it would help minority communities that have long had lower ownership rates. The city is expected to use some of the funding to support pilot programs for various “missing middle” housing options.

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