MILWAUKEE — The majority of the City of Milwaukee’s Common Council is collectively calling for change within the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM).
On Wednesday, a supermajority of 10 out of 15 alderpersons signed a statement that said the situation is “no longer tenable.”
The statement came out in response to Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s release on June 21, announcing three appointees for the HACM Board of Commissioners.
The board currently has three vacant seats and a vice chair whose term expired on Nov. 7, 2023.
“We want to get it right,” Jose Perez said, who serves as Common Council president and alderman for Milwaukee’s 12th District. “We have one opportunity as council members, the responsibility of confirming nominees.”
The last time a HACM board member started a new term was Aug. 4, 2022.
“They’ve been out of compliance for a long time,” Perez said. “Several of the positions have been vacant for 17 months, 14 months and now to rush it through, we were concerned that we wanted to properly vet, not only any nominees the mayor has, but to have an opportunity to collaborate on the highest and best nominees for the vacant positions.”
Perez said the Common Council has no authority over solutions for the embattled Housing Authority.
It also does not have the authority to nominate board members. That lies with the mayor.
“We asked for the list of nominees — who were they — start that dialogue,” Perez said. “And we found out about them through the media.”
For more than a year, tenants who live at public housing buildings managed by HACM have raised concerns about security breaches, bedbugs, cockroaches, rats, a lack of response from HACM public safety and property management that ignores them.
Becher Court is one of HACM’s public housing buildings. It’s in Perez’s district on Milwaukee’s south side.
“The ability for just anyone to walk in and out of this building, sleep in the stairways, do criminal activity or nuisance activity in this building is unacceptable,” he said, standing in front of Becher Court.
The HACM board currently has one resident, which Perez said is not in compliance, since it needs two.
Mayor Johnson did not appoint any in his most recent announcement, so Perez put forward Betty Newton. Newton is Becher Court’s resident organization president.
“Since I’ve been fighting for things in this building, he’s been involved for the last year and a half, so when he asked me, I couldn’t say no,” Newton said. “I do think the board needs to be holding the director accountable, and that’s not something they’ve done.”
HACM’s Secretary-Executive Director is Willie Hines. Newton said she has no confidence in his leadership.
“For someone who has refused to meet with us and speak to us, I personally was emailing and sending him letters,” she said. “For him to never set foot in this building to speak with me, to never pick up the phone and have a conversation with me, no.”
Johnson’s appointees consisted of the former vice president of human resources at Visit Milwaukee, the director of asset management for the Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura, and HACM’s current Vice Chair Brooke VandeBerg.
Perez said he doesn’t have confidence in HACM’s current leadership.
“What I’ve seen so far from the response my constituents are getting, I have lots of questions. I don’t have confidence,” he said. “I think it should move in the direction of new leadership on the board and eventually, new leadership in the entire HACM team.”
“I want everyone, the new commission, the current commission, to stop being tone deaf,” Newton said. “We’re not making up the things that we deal with on a constant basis.”
Perez added that the Common Council wants HACM to succeed.
Johnson’s release stated that his three appointees will be submitted on July 2 to the Common Council for consideration.
He also stated that he is working with the HACM board to contract with a nationally recognized public housing consultant.
In Sept. 2023, the HACM board approved a contract for a different outside consultant for $600,000.
It came after audits from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development found alarming issues with the Housing Authority’s section 8 voucher program.
Spectrum News reached out for an interview with the mayor on June 21 and again on June 28 and has yet to hear back from his office.
The most recent statement provided to Spectrum News is from March. The mayor echoed what he said in his State of the City address:
“The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee is a major provider of homes for residents here. Thousands of people rely on it. The Authority has faced some very real challenges over the past several years navigating the pandemic and managing through very significant budget challenges. I am keeping a close eye on the agency, and staying in touch with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as the Housing Authority addresses the problems. They are headed in the right direction, and I have confidence in the agency’s leadership.”