U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore focuses congressional attention on Milwaukee's challenges

By: Talis Shelbourne - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore led a bus tour Tuesday through Milwaukee, during which those aboard commented how the community, once regarded as the “Harlem of the Midwest," has evolved into one of the most segregated cities in the country.

The city is sometimes referred to as the “Selma of the North" because of the stigma it has grown into.

Later in the day, a hearing took place, featuring several panelists connected to Milwaukee's historical challenges — redlining, racially restrictive covenants and industrial disinvestment among them.

Speakers also touched on current issues in Milwaukee's housing landscape: racial segregation, low Black homeownership rates, high numbers of rent-burdened households, gentrification and displacement, and the lack of funding available for emerging local developers. 

The tour and hearing were part of a two-day visit from members of the U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth, chaired by Connecticut U.S. Rep. Jim Himes. The first day was spent in Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil's district, which includes Kenosha. Steil also joined the tour.

The committee is expected to deliver a report outlining solutions to many of those issues at the end of the year.

Tour highlights Milwaukee's challenges, offers hope

Milwaukee's bus tour wound through the neighborhoods of Brewer's Hill and Harambee, as well as the slowly redeveloping Martin Luther King Drive.

Jackson pointed out several startling statistics underlining the city of Milwaukee's racial wealth gap:

• A median income for Black Milwaukeeans that is $25,000 less than white residents
• A significant lack of Black representation in the city's suburbs (with roughly 10% living outside the central city)
• The second-lowest Black homeownership rate among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas (27.2 %)

The end of the tour featured one of the most promising homegrown efforts to address affordable housing: a new multimillion-dollar affordable housing project, the Community Within the Corridor.

The construction of a biking trail, robust recreation area and hundreds of affordable housing units were shown off at a presentation put on by members associated with the Community Within the Corridor project: Que El-Amin, co-founder of the Young Enterprising Society, Darrol Gibson II of Gibson & Associates LLC, Willie Smith of the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation and Cheryl Blue, the executive director of the 30th Street Industrial Corridor Corp. 

Projects like the Community Within the Corridor show good local leadership and a deep Milwaukee spirit and pride, Himes said.

Hearing focuses on housing issues and solutions facing Milwaukee

Members of the select committee hearing included President and CEO of LUMIN Schools Shaun Luehring, Housing Resources Inc. Executive Director Trena Bond, Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) Milwaukee Senior Program Officer Sakuri Fears, Marquette University Research Fellow John Johnson and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Geography and Urban Studies associate professor Anne Bonds.

They discussed the role that the federal government and existing organizations can play in reducing the racial wealth gap, increasing homeownership among communities of color and stabilizing housing for renters.

Johnson emphasized how private equity firms, which purchase homes in bulk, often squeeze out local residents from being able to purchase homes. These firms, when acting as landlords, tend to evict tenants at a much higher rate than local and even out-of-state individual landlords.

Bonds noted how “renewed attention on racial segregation shows how little has changed since the 1960s.” Bonds said her research on racially restrictive covenants and other types of endemic racial exclusion in home purchasing indicates strategies should be just as racially targeted.

Fears said increasing transportation could address what Bonds described as a “spatial mismatch” between where Milwaukee residents live and jobs with life-sustaining wages. She also said an increase in Low Income Housing Tax Credit expansion and flexible support for local emerging developers could help create more affordable housing opportunities.

Bond pointed to unfamiliarity with the homebuying process as the biggest barrier to Milwaukee renters who want to become homeowners. She also identified a greater need for increased Community Development Block Grant funding and more flexible and direct financial support to proven nonprofit organizations.

Potential solutions for improving economic disparity identified by the panelists included increasing alternative home purchasing methods (such as landbanks and community trusts) that can compete with private equity firms. They also recommended expanding public transit, providing ongoing support for programs like MKE United's Anti-Displacement Fund to prevent gentrification and displacement, introducing rent stabilization and rent caps.

Expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act to all lending organizations, including credit unions, was also offered as a possible solution.

Talis Shelbourne is an investigative solutions reporter covering the issues of affordable housing and lead poisoning. Have a tip? You can reach Talis at (414) 403-6651 or tshelbourn@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @talisseer and message her on Facebook at @talisseer.