3/21/2023 0 Comments Sixtyfour west belts purchase![]() ![]() ![]() Now, it serves predominantly Latino and Black families and is in part responsible for the rehabilitation of more than eight hundred homes and twenty-six hundred house sales in the city. Acts Housing started ten years ago as an initiative to help settle recent immigrants and refugees in the Milwaukee area. To secure their home in Milwaukee’s North Division neighborhood, Johnson worked with a local real estate brokerage and counseling firm called Acts Housing. In historically Black and disadvantaged neighborhoods, like Bronzeville, the city offers up to $25,000 in loans. ![]() Since 2019, the corporation has completed eighteen owner-occupant projects. In the past eight months, NIDC has approved five properties for a collective $105,000 in loans. The Department of City Development offers homebuyer assistance through its Neighborhood Improvement Development Corporation (NIDC), which offers owner-occupants up to $20,000 in forgivable loans. Milwaukee has a number of programs and organizations to help local residents find affordable properties around the city. “That’s sort of when I was like, ‘Yeah, I could probably buy a house,’” Johnson said. Eventually, a coworker-turned-close-friend offered to be their roommate while they focused on paying off their debt. “Everyone’s at the table and they realize that homeownership is the way to change the disparities in our city.”Ī couple of years ago, Johnson, who had previously worked as a freelance writer with an unstable income, started on the path toward homeownership by taking a more consistent job as a barista. “This is a really exciting time in Milwaukee for people seeking to become homeowners,” said Amy Turim, the Real Estate Development Services Manager with the City of Milwaukee. ![]() There are currently more than 2,500 vacant homes in the city, and although many are blighted and require rehabilitation, they present a unique opportunity. Structural factors have kept Black and brown folks, like Johnson, from homeownership, while renting can leave lower-income people open to significant housing insecurity and prevent families from building wealth over time.Īcross the board, Milwaukee’s city officials and non-profits are pointing toward redevelopment and homeownership as a way to improve access to housing and revitalize the city. They’re not alone-the city is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis, with more than half of renters paying more than the recommended thirty percent of their income in rent each month. As a Black, queer person living in Milwaukee, they understood that buying a home would be no easy feat, but they also realized it could offer them much-needed stability. Johnson, who hails from Milwaukee’s northwest side, said for a long time they spent their life in survival mode. “I said that just so flippantly, just so he would leave me alone and stop asking me about the dog, not thinking about the future that I would actually buy a house one day,” Johnson said. When Milwaukee resident Rae Johnson’s son came home begging for a dog, Johnson remembers telling him “no, you can’t get a dog until I buy a house.” And after years of unsteady jobs and housing, Johnson didn’t realize that such a passive statement would soon become reality. Is homeownership the answer to Milwaukee’s affordable housing crisis? It’s complicated. ![]()
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