Residents speak up about 'unacceptable living conditions' in Milwaukee's public housing
Katrina Velazquez SPECTRUM1 NEWS APR. 12, 2023
MILWAUKEE — Tenants living in Milwaukee’s public housing said they are dealing with what they call “unacceptable living conditions.”
They've joined a campaign led by Common Ground, a local non-partisan group, to call out the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. Common Ground is made up of of 43 non-partisan organizations that come together to address issues that affect the common good.
Roye “Chris” Logan has been living in the Mitchell Court Apartments since 2013. Logan is the secretary of the tenant organization at Mitchell Court. She said in the past year, tenants have seen conditions worsen at their complex.
“An influx of prostitution, drug dealers,” said Logan. “We became infested with bedbugs, roaches and mice. The more we complain, the less is done.”
Since 2020, Common Ground has listened to over 1,215 residents in 17 HACM properties. They said tenants detail stories of living conditions, like assaults, bedbugs and rats, lost rent payments, abusive management, mold and lack of heat. Logan said she’s never experienced living conditions like these in all her years here. It’s an issue she and other tenants have brought to the management’s attention.
“The moment I started speaking out is when I started getting violations,” said Logan.
Kevin Solomon is an organizer with Common Ground. He said the issue tenants are facing lies with HACM and its Secretary-Executive Director Willie Hines. Solomon said Common Ground started direct communication with Hines in October 2022.
“For 5 months now, we’ve been raising these questions to Director Hines and little to nothing has been done,” said Solomon. “He’s failing 5,000 families in this city and we think that’s unacceptable.”
In February, Common Ground invited Hines to a meeting. Hines showed up to hear their concerns. It was there that Solomon said Common Ground asked Hines to take care of several tasks.
Those requests included fixing 122 maintenance issues and hiring a third-party contractor to address the mice, bedbugs and rodents at Mitchell and Lincoln Court Apartments.
They also requested that Hines hire an independent investigator to research resident concerns about one particularly abusive manager, also at Mitchell and Lincoln.
Solomon said none of these action items were ever done.
Spectrum News 1 reached out to HACM and received the following statement:
“The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee’s (HACM) highest priority is to provide excellent service and quality affordable housing options to more than 10,000 households throughout Milwaukee. HACM takes residents’ concerns very seriously. We are aware of issues raised by residents, many of which have been resolved, and others that we have been actively working to address. When other matters are brought to our attention, we will address them as well. HACM’s mission has been to provide critical affordable housing to Milwaukeeans for nearly 80 years. Despite significant underfunding for affordable housing, we have continued to be resilient in advancing our mission and providing opportunities for our residents to thrive. We will continue to find solutions to ensure safe, healthy living environments for our residents.”
Logan said issues of tenant safety are also a concern. She said despite reports to management and the public safety team, a number of homeless people have come in and out of the building.
“People brought their grandkids here at one time,” said Logan. “They stopped bringing the grandkids out because they can’t go out in the yard and play. We run the risk of coming across needles. I’ve found pills scattered throughout the building.”
Logan said she feels the violations she’s gotten are retaliatory for speaking up and rallying with other tenants. She said retaliation has come in multiple forms, including threats of eviction or housing violations.
Logan said she plans to continue to rally alongside her neighbors and other Milwaukee tenants. She said she hopes to get back to a place where she can feel comfortable in her own home again.
HACM has more information about its efforts to address resident concerns on its website.