More than 1,000 members of Common Ground non-profit organization and HACM tenants from various housing authority developments in Milwaukee gathered Sunday to expose the unacceptable living conditions endured by tenants.
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
March 26, 2023
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Sunday, more than 1,000 members of Common Ground (CG), a non-profit advocacy organization including tenants from the the Housing Authority, City of Milwaukee (HACM) gathered at Mount Mary University Bergstrom Hall to call for an investigation of HACM. According to CG, organizers have listened to over 1,215 tenants of the HACM in 17 properties and heard stories of unacceptable living conditions. Video Tenants United: https://youtu.be/kijQ3bGEYG0
The center of the HACM, CG and tenants controversy is Willie L. Hines Jr., Secretary-Executive Director of HACM, who earned a D+ for 2023 from CG for failing to work collaborately with HACM tenants and CG. CG reported that Hines Jr. earns a salary at least $240,000 annually. Hines Jr. is one of the few non-profit directors in the Milwaukee area that earns that much in the City, especially when it gets a combined funding of $287M from tenants rent, Wisconsin Housing Finance Authority (WHEDA - taxpayers) and HUD (taxpayers).
CG reported that the federal government Housing and Urban Development (HUD) audits the conditions of HACM's physical properties and checks for compliance with HUD regulations. In 2018, HUD gave HACM a "sub-standard" score of 63 out of 100, which below 60 is considered a failing evaluation by HUD.
CG, a non-partisan alliance of 43 congregations, schools, non-profits and small businesses says, that HUD is not able to force HACM to make changes (reform).
HUD when providing taxpayer funding including WHEDA to HACM, they don't include any stipulation holding HACM accountable for the unacceptable living conditions and they don't have an audit process to address tenant issues neglected by housing authorities that CG alleged against the HACM administrators including Hines Jr..
As a non-profit organization, HACM is only accountable to its Board of Directors (Commissioners).
The City of Milwaukee mayor only gets to appoint the secretary-director of HACM, which the mayor and the Milwaukee Common Council has no authority over HACM.
Milwaukee Common Council President and Alderman Jóse G. Pérez told the CG assembly on Sunday that he is committed to work with CG including the tenants and would support any legislation (resolution) from the Common Council to assure that all the conditions are met by the HACM management, maintenance including public safety, and hold people accountable.
In February, CG with collaboration with HACM tenants sent a letter to Hines Jr. about six areas of reform that needed to be addressed.
1. Deffered Maintenance: Invest $75M to address deferred and essential maintenance, in consultation with residents, over the next two years.
2. Management: Create a resident-centered management system (including culture, accountability, training and hiring) with residents participating in every aspect.
3. Pest/Rodents: Hire a third-party pest control company to inspect each property for bugs and rodents.
4. Security: Develope and implement a new public safety plan to address crime and safety in and around HACM properties.
5. Tenants Rights: Respect resident rights.
6. Accountability: Fund a full-time ombudsman who would conduct independent and professional investigations of complaints lodged by HACM residents, employees or taxpayers.
On Wednesday, March 17, 2023, Hines Jr. released a 5-page double sided letter in which HACM will take action this year in response to 13 major concerns brought up by multiple residents at the Mitchell Court apartments located at the 2600 block of W. National Ave. in the Southside of Milwaukee. A copy of the HACM letter to residents was provided to Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) by an anonymous source.
Since last year, dozens of residents at Mitchell Court have organized to address certain issues that have resulted at the development and hadn't been fully addressed by HACM.
Also some residents circulated a petition asking for the replacement of several Spanish speaking (bilingual) HACM property managers in charge of both Mitchell Court and Lincoln Court apartments due to various allegations raised by various residents.
In regards to replacing the two property managers at Mitchell Court, Hines Jr. stated in the letter to residents, "The hiring, placement, and performance management at HACM staff is an internal personnel matter led by HACM's Human Resources team. We take complaints brought forth very seriously, however, tangible evidence and concrete incidents are are most informative. With that being said, we acknowledge receipt of the petition from Mitchell Court residents and we will remain mindful of it."
Also multiple residents at Mitchell Court apartments have confirmed that they will be moving out from the Mitchell Court apartments due to existing issues and family members not being allowed to visit them.
In the detailed letter, Hines Jr. confirmed action to be taken to resolve many of the concerns this year that were raised by residents.
Last Summer, Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa, HACM administrators, HACM Public Safety and Milwaukee police held outdoor hearings open to neighborhood residents including from Mitchell Court concerning issues affecting the surrounding area.
According to Hines Jr. in the letter, since last July, HACM took additional steps to address criminal activity around the neighborhood and at Mitchell Court, which has decreased criminal activity with additional Milwaukee police patrols and hiring private security staff in addition to the HACM Public Safety personnel.
Concerning pests and rodents, Hines Jr. responded that HACM is currently seeking information about the cost of pest control, inspection and remediation services that could supplement HACM's in-house pest control program.
Update: On March 29, 2023, more than 20 tenants at Mitchell Court apartments received HACM violations, which for each violation the tenant is automatically accused of violating security of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee including a violation for unsanitary unit and other regardless, if the unit is clean and in safe condition.
The following HACM violation was provided by an anonymous tenant to report the outdated violation documents used by the HACM administration, which in this case, none of the violations were signed other than it has a CC to Alma Arciga, the Mitchell Court property Manager.
Arciga and her office Secretary Krystal Rios including a new maintenance employee and a in-house pest control employee did apartment unit inspections between February 20 to 24, 2023 at Mitchell Court as required annually by HUD regulations.
Apparently, the violation automatically accused the tenant of violating security, which is false, then another false allegation is marked for unsanitary unit, eventhough the unit is clean and in a safe condition and lastly, the violation document is not signed by whoever issued it without first providing a warning to a tenant as required in the HACM lease and policy handbook updated in 2022 between the tenant and HACM.
Many tenants at Mitchell Court believe that the violation documents were given out to tenants in retaliation for complaining of the unacceptable living conditions at HACM developments including at Mitchell Court as Common Ground made public last Sunday.
The HACM violation documents were delivered by someone who placed on individual apartment doors, where anyone could review them and one tenant confirmed that a violation document for another tenant on the same floor was left on the tenant's door, which the tenant thought, two violations were for the same apartment unit. The tenant says, whoever left the violations on apartment unit doors violated tenants privacy and allowed for another tenant to unsuspectively review the violation thinking it was for the same unit, which is unacceptable.
According to Hines Jr., retaliation by HACM property managers and administration will not be tolerated.
Update: In July 2023, Alma Arciga was removed as the Mitchell Court and Lincoln Court development manager and assigned to another HACM property as manager. Krystal Rios, Arciga's former assistant at both Mitchell and Lincoln Courts no longer is employed by HACM attributed to internal personnel reasons.
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