MILWAUKEE — Frustration and anger filled Milwaukee’s City Hall Wednesday, as the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM) held a board meeting in-person for the first time since Jan. 10.
For months prior, board meetings were either virtual or not held at all.
“The bedbugs are unbearable,” said College Court resident Carmella Holloway, one of five tenants at the building who filed a class-action lawsuit against HACM last month. “My apartment is uninhabitable.”
Holloway was among more than 20 Housing Authority residents and their advocates who spoke at a public hearing Wednesday in front of board members and HACM’s Secretary-Executive Director Willie Hines. They laid out frustrations and concerns about conditions at multiple low-income, public-housing buildings under HACM management. Spectrum News has been investigating these buildings for months.
“You all need more sympathy and empathy and that’s real,” said Nicole Binns, a resident at College Court.
“We shouldn’t live with rats, roaches and bugs crawling around in our apartments,” said Vivian Jones, a resident at Lapham Park. “We shouldn’t live with people shaking our doorknobs. We shouldn’t live with drugs being sold inside the building where we’re living.”
Wednesday’s public hearing was required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to get feedback on HACM’s mandated five-year plan and annual plan. It includes goals and objectives, such as work orders being completed in a timely manner.
HACM is already under a Corrective Action Plan from HUD. Among other mandates, it requires HACM to outsource its Section 8 voucher program to a third-party, after a federal audit found it “at risk of serious fraud, waste, and abuse.”
“It’s clearly obvious there are a significant number of unresolved matters that we will address, but if you look at the capital fund plan that was presented, we have listened to residents as well and we’ve been able to implement that into the capital fund,” said Hines. “They’ve talked about bedbugs, rodents and a number of other items and in the capital fund, we’ve identified a placeholder for that because we will work to improve the current conditions as it pertains to pest control.”
Hines also mentioned “uploading dollars” for safety in the capital fund, as he ended the board meeting with a statement after hearing from residents.
For more than a year, Hines has denied Spectrum News’ requests for interviews regarding residents’ complaints.
On Wednesday, he spoke to the media face-to-face. Spectrum News asked him why it has taken more than a year for him to speak to reporters in-person.
“First of all, every time the media has contacted us, we have responded,” said Hines, referring to a HACM spokesperson who has been responding to Spectrum News’ inquiries via email. “We’ve responded and we’ll continue to respond, and we’ll build on that.”
He also said he has no plans to retire, or to step down.
“I am here to stay,” he said. “I do not anticipate resigning and nor do I anticipate retirement. I have many working years ahead of me.”
Another challenge for HACM is its half-filled board. Three seats remain vacant and Vice Chair Brooke VandeBerg’s term expired last November. She took on the role of acting chair at Wednesday’s meeting. She’s also one of three appointees put forward by Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson in June.
Johnson is responsible for making appointments to the Housing Authority Board. His June announcement caused discord with the Common Council, whose members must confirm those appointments.
“I think this is the Council’s opportunity to dive in and meet with every single one of them and determine if they still think they’re the right fit and they’re entitled to do so,” VandeBerg said. “I think they should absolutely ask hard questions of all of us. I would do the same.”
VandeBerg said it has not been the Board’s choice to hold meetings online, and she submitted a request in writing earlier this year to hold them in-person.
She also said moving forward, the Board would conduct performance reviews of Housing Authority leadership.
“We will be diving into an entire organizational review and part of that will be performance reviews and I think that will be the opportunity to say if he (Hines) is the right fit or not,” VandeBerg said.
The Board will provide an update to residents and community members at its next meeting on Oct. 9. As it appears currently on the agenda, that meeting will also be held in-person.