Milwaukee public housing tenants seek removal of housing authority director

By Hannah Hilyard

WISN 12

MILWAUKEE — Since spotting her first bed bug in November, Stacy Ream has not slept inside her own College Court apartment.

"I go to my apartments because my belongings are there, but even still, there are bed bugs popping up," she told WISN 12 News Wednesday.

"Where are you sleeping?" WISN 12 News Hannah Hilyard asked.

"My mom's house," Ream said.

Ream is one of more than 50 Milwaukee tenants and activists who showed up to City Hall Wednesday to attend the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee's (HACM) monthly board meeting. They wanted to specifically address the agency's executive director Willie Hines.

"I just wanted to come and speak to Hines about some of things going on in our building to see if he could fix some of those problems," Vivian Jones, who is the resident leader at Lapham Park, said. "I say, Willie Hines, you need to step up or step out."

Jones and Ream expected to attend the meeting from 301-B inside City Hall, but when they arrived, they learned the meeting was virtual.

"We asked to be on the agenda today, and they moved this meeting to phone-in only," Common Ground Lead Organizer Jennifer O'Hear told the outraged crowd. "They are literally phoning it in."

HACM said the meeting notice and agenda were posted on their usual date: Friday, Feb. 9.

"The meeting was never changed to virtual. It was never posted as anything other than a virtual call-in," a spokesperson said.

The tenants, with the help of advocacy group Common Ground, are calling for Hines' removal.

"We are not going to going to give up. We are in this until we get real change!" O'Hear said.

The group plans to attend next month's meeting, which is tentatively planned to be in person.

WISN 12 News asked HACM for an interview with Hines. Instead, the agency sent this statement:

"HACM and Mr. Hines remain deeply committed to addressing resident concerns. The best path forward is to continue resolving those concerns through agreements established with HUD to improve and strengthen HACM's operations. We will continue to rely on HUD's deep expertise."

Link to article here.