Alderman Bauman spearheads Historic Investment in Affordable Housing Fueled by Federal American Rescue Plan Act Funding

In 2021 Milwaukee was awarded $394m from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) which was passed by Congress in March, 2021. Half of these funds came to the city in 2021 and the other half in 2022. The funds must be spent by 2026.  

In late 2021 the Common Council approved legislation allocating $174,387,670 in ARPA funds for several initiatives including $43.5m for affordable housing. This allocation, spearheaded by Alderman Bauman, is perhaps the largest commitment of city resources to affordable housing in Milwaukee history. The affordable housing allocation was spread among several initiatives which included the following:

In Rem Properties, “Home MKE” Program

“In rem properties” refers to properties that the city has acquired through tax foreclosure because the property taxes were not paid. Since the Great Recession thousands of properties became tax delinquent and were acquired by the city. The city has marketed these properties for owner-occupancy but many were vacant and in poor condition so they were difficult to sell. Many have been demolished thereby reducing available housing stock in Milwaukee. Many others remained standing but were eye sores in their neighborhoods. It was a daunting problem because these vacant and abandoned homes could provide needed affordable housing opportunities for owner-occupants and renters but the city lacked the resources to make the repairs necessary to render the properties marketable.

The American Rescue Plan Act offered Milwaukee an opportunity to solve this problem so Alderman Bauman authored a plan to allocate $15m in ARPA funds to fully renovate up to 150 in rem properties at an average cost of $100,000 now known as the Homes MKE program. The focus will be on those properties that are in the worst condition since these homes are the most difficult to sell in “as in” condition. The Homes MKE program will turn blighted one and two family homes into fully renovated affordable housing for owner-occupants and renters at a fraction of the cost of building new homes of similar size.

The first completed Homes MKE renovation was celebrated on January 4, 2024. It is located at 3436 N. 13th St.

The Common Council created the Milwaukee Housing Trust Fund (“HTF”) in 2006. Alderman Bauman was a co-sponsor of the legislation creating the HTF and serves on the advisory board. The purpose of the HTF was to serve as a secondary lender for private housing developments that would provide affordable housing in the city. Historically the HTF was funded at relatively modest levels-typically about $500,000 per year.

The ARPA created an opportunity to significantly increase funding for the HTF so Alderman Bauman sponsored the legislation that would allocate $10m for the HTF. This infusion of funding will dramatically expand the city’s ability to invest in private housing developments that will increase affordable housing. Housing Trust Fund.

Milwaukee Housing Authority

The Westlawn public housing development (located at 60th & Silver Spring) is the largest public housing development in Milwaukee (394 units of housing). Several years ago the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM) embarked on a multi-year program to completely rebuild and redesign the development with a mix of affordable single family, duplex and multi-unit housing. Due to rising construction costs, the project was in danger of stalling so the Common Council allocated $9m in ARPA funds to the Westlawn project to enable the work to continue.

Miscellaneous Housing Programs

Since the onset of the Great Recession, the city has developed several programs to promote affordable housing and home ownership such as the STRONG Home Loan Home Program, Lease-to-Own Program, Down Payment Assistance Program, Housing Infrastructure Preservation Fund, and Rental Rehabilitation Program. The council allocated $4.5m in ARPA funds to bolster these programs.