The March 26 article, “Milwaukee city attorney slaps out-of-state landlord with lawsuits,” highlights an decisive and necessary step toward addressing significant and deeply rooted problems that are disproportionately impacting north and south side neighborhoods across Milwaukee.
The City Attorney’s actions represent meaningful initial progress, but they also underscore the scale of the challenge that residents and community organizations have been documenting for years.
Working in close collaboration with hundreds of dedicated resident leaders, the 11 neighborhood-based nonprofit organizations that make up the Reclaiming Our Neighborhoods Coalition, have conducted extensive, on-the-ground research that paints a sobering picture of housing conditions across Milwaukee’s north and south sides.
Patterns of neglect and disinvestment
Through annual surveys, we have consistently observed patterns of neglect and disinvestment, particularly among investor-owned properties, that demand sustained and systemic intervention.
In 2024, the coalition and its partners surveyed the exterior conditions of more than 35,000 residential and mixed-use properties across our neighborhoods. Among the key findings from that effort was that investor-owned properties were nearly twice as likely to need multiple major repairs (19.7%) compared to owner-occupied properties (10.3%).
Building on that work, we conducted 1,232 person-to-person surveys with some of Milwaukee’s most housing-vulnerable residents, both renters and homeowners, living in properties identified as needing two or more major exterior repairs.
Low-income families face serious, often overlapping challenges
These in-depth surveys shed further light on the serious and often overlapping challenges facing low-income Milwaukee families: 19% of respondents reported leaky roofs, 37% experienced rodent or insect infestations in the past year, 46% reported peeling, chipping, or flaking paint, and 40% experienced water intrusion. Most alarming, 34 households reported having no running water, and 79 households endured the 2024–25 winter without heat.
These are not isolated incidents. They are systemic failures that demand coordinated action. While recent legal efforts are encouraging, they must be part of a broader, sustained strategy to hold negligent and predatory investor landlords accountable and to protect the health, safety, and dignity of Milwaukee residents.
Looking ahead, the Reclaiming Our Neighborhoods Coalition and its partners are preparing once again for our 2026 parcel survey, with an ambitious goal of assessing 40,000 properties citywide. This effort will continue to provide critical data to inform policy, enforcement, and community-driven solutions.
We urge community members, stakeholders, and policymakers to support this work and to remain committed to working in true partnership, with resident voices leading the way, to ensure safe, healthy housing for all. We also call on the City of Milwaukee to build on current enforcement actions and do more to address the systemic issues that have allowed these conditions to persist.
JoAnna Bautch is Executive Director of VIA CDC; Karen Higgins is Executive Director of Milwaukee Community Crossroads; Mabel Lamb is Executive Director of Sherman Park Community Association; Lindsey St. Arnold Bell, Executive Director of Near West Side Partners; and William Schmitt is Executive Director of Rooted & Rising – Washington Park. They write on behalf of the Reclaiming Our Neighborhoods (RON) Coalition, which includes: Bridge Builders; Dominican Center; Metcalfe Park Community Bridges; Milwaukee Community Crossroads; Near West Side Partners; Riverworks Development Corporation; Rooted & Rising – Washington Park; Sherman Park Community Association; Southside Organizing Center; VIA CDC; and Walnut Way Conservation Corp.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Low-income Milwaukee families face systemic failures we must fix | Opinion
Reporting by JoAnna Bautch, Karen Higgins, Mabel Lamb, Lindsey St. Arnold Bell, and William Schmitt, Special to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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