Milwaukee To Use $2M To Demolish, Rehab Properties

The state is putting $2 million toward a project to demolish or rehabilitate blighted properties in Milwaukee.

Most of the work will be done in the city’s Sherman Park neighborhood.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, the agreement, signed this week, will cover the costs of tearing down about 100 structures and fixing up about 100 more between now and June 2018.

Jeff Fleming with Milwaukee’s Department of City Development said the program will help build the city’s workforce, along with its neighborhoods.

“Every home that a developer takes on to rehab with a $10,000 grant, they’re required to hire an unemployed or underemployed Milwaukee city resident,” Fleming said. “So not only is this a neighborhood revitalization effort, it’s a jobs program too.”

Critics – including state Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee – said the plan gives the city too much leeway on how the money can be spent, and that could allow in outside developers rather than building ownership and investment from within the city.

Taylor also said the agreement doesn’t do enough to address the economic issues that lead to blighted homes and commercial buildings.

DFI Secretary Lon Roberts was unavailable for comment Friday, but department officials said the memorandum of understanding calls on Milwaukee to keep neighborhood economic development in mind as it chooses properties to raze and rebuild.

Funding comes from the state’s portion of a national settlement with Volkswagen over the company’s emissions scandal.