When the home Cornelia Hall had been renting for six years was sold to a local real estate group in 2024, she felt hopeful.
She thought the new company might be easier to deal with than the previous landlord, who had been convicted of reckless use of a firearm and sent to prison.
Maybe her leaking roof would finally be fixed.
But in the two years since the change in ownership, she says serious maintenance issues have been addressed only through temporary fixes, such as patching roof holes with spare shingles.
When Hall learned that her landlord, S2 Real Estate Group owner Samuel Stair, was arrested on April 22 and charged with a host of federal crimes, she said her house “must be cursed.”
While the federal criminal complaint against Stair focuses on accusations related to drug trafficking, tenants have for years reported concerns about the dangerous living conditions they describe in his S2 Real Estate Group properties.
Months before the charges were filed, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel launched an investigation into those concerns, which residents say have been routinely dismissed by S2 Real Estate Group and not adequately addressed by city officials.
The Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch spoke with 48 tenants living in S2 Real Estate Group properties across the city.
All but six of those tenants told the Journal Sentinel they experienced at least one major issue, including faulty heat, mold, pest infestations and broken entryways. In one complex where a resident had repeatedly complained about the lack of smoke detectors, a fire eventually broke out in the garage, and a 70-year-old man was found dead under circumstances that remain unclear.
In March, several weeks before his arrest, Stair acknowledged issues at his 150 S2 Real Estate Group properties but said they’re unavoidable given the age of the buildings. His company doesn’t have the capacity to address every problem at all of its properties immediately, he said, and the best way for residents to see long-term issues resolved is to report problems to the city.
Since 2016, Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services has sent Stair at least 360 orders to make repairs on S2 Real Estate Group properties, according to data obtained by the Journal Sentinel.
Only a handful of Stair’s orders are marked as unresolved, meaning the landlord did take some action on most all the orders. But tenants say issues persist even after the department gets involved because the repairs are minimal – just enough to be in code compliance.
Stair told the Journal Sentinel that he describes his company as an “essential service” because it provides affordable housing to low-income families and those with evictions on their records, and that the city needs more landlords like him.
But critics say his business model exploits poverty, housing scarcity and a system that is weighted against tenants.
“They’re one of the purveyors of misery and the reasons why our neighborhoods don’t get better,” said Milwaukee County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez, who participated in a picket against S2 Real Estate Group in 2020.
‘I shouldn’t have to live like that.’
Frank Colón is a single father who has been living with his two children in a building owned by S2 Real Estate Group on West Greenfield Avenue and South Layton Boulevard for seven years.
Despite issues like ceiling leaks, mold and rat infestations, Colón said he’s most concerned about the temperature in his apartment, which often falls below 60 degrees during cold-weather months due to drafty windows and a faulty furnace.
Each time he reported the issue, he said he got little to no help from S2 management.
To prove the severity of the issue, Colón decided to get his own thermometer. The first time he took the temperature, it was 55 degrees.
According to state law, a habitable temperature is “at least 67 degrees Fahrenheit during all seasons of the year.”
“I shouldn’t have to live like that,” Colón said, adding that he was accused of trying to “scam” the company when he sent photos of the thermometer to management.
Finally, Colón turned to Neighborhood Services for help, which Stair told the Journal Sentinel is what he recommends tenants do if they have unresolved maintenance issues.
“You make that phone call, and they continuously fine us until it’s fixed,” Stair said.
Common Council President Jose Perez, whose aldermanic district is home to several of Stair’s properties, said it’s not acceptable for a landlord to expect that their tenants call Neighborhood Services to flag chronic or unresolved issues.
When a tenant calls Neighborhood Services to file a complaint, and the department finds a building code violation, it can issue a violation order on the property owner.
If the violation remains unresolved, the tenant can submit forms for rent abatement or rent withholding, said Shawanna Lindenberg, housing department manager at the nonprofit Community Advocates.
The main reason landlords do not make repairs to their properties despite the risk of government intervention is to save money, according to Jill Kastner, supervising attorney for Legal Action Wisconsin. Deciding not to make repairs puts the landlord in a position where tenants could elect to abate or withhold rent, but many do not know how to follow this arduous legal process or are fearful of retaliation, Kastner said.
Over the years, Colón has called Neighborhood Services, also known as DNS, nine times to report various issues in his building.
Five separate violation orders have been placed on the property due to Colón’s calls, according to inspection reports obtained by the Journal Sentinel through an open records request.
Colón has not abated or withheld rent from Stair.
“He’s all about money; he doesn’t like to fix things. You’ve got to call DNS,” Colón said.
Fire breaks out at an S2 Real Estate Group property
Colón reported a lack of smoke detectors in his building three times, beginning in 2019. Neighborhood Services placed three violation orders on his building, though it’s unclear whether all were related to the smoke detector issue. Each order was marked as resolved.
By January 2023, a fire broke out in the building’s garages and smoke poured into Colón’s second-floor apartment, which he says still didn’t have a working smoke detector.
According to an inspection report filed by the Milwaukee Fire Department, an individual was living in one of the garages, which had exposed wiring, no plumbing or sewer, and rodent and insect infestations.
S2 Real Estate Group maintenance boarded up the main door, making it difficult to enter or exit, according to the report.
After the fire was extinguished, a 70-year-old man named Grant Forbes, who was “allowed to live in the garage,” was found dead among the debris, according to a report filed by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner.
The fire was ruled an accident, and it remains unclear whether the man died because of the incident. The landlord was not cited for any violation related to the death.
Stair said the man was renting the unit as a storage space for around $400.
Colón alleges that the real estate group had been charging the man rent to sleep in the garage.
Stair said when he discovered the man was living in the garage, he called Neighborhood Services to help remove him.
“If we were renting that out to a tenant, I would have charged a lot more rent,” Stair told the Journal Sentinel.
Survey shows widespread issues, Stair attributes problems to renters
The Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch knocked on the doors of 89 properties owned by S2 Real Estate Group. The 48 tenants who spoke to the Journal Sentinel about renting from S2 Real Estate Group describe a pattern of persistent maintenance and safety issues.
Of the tenants surveyed:
When asked how often maintenance issues are resolved, 17 tenants said “sometimes,” and nine said the issues were “rarely or never” resolved.
According to Stair, all the company’s properties “are perfectly livable.”
He attributed most of the issues in his units to the tenants’ income levels and cleaning habits, claiming that residents can’t afford cleaning products or that their neighbors may be contributing to the problem.
On one occasion, Stair said, he distributed vacuum cleaners to new tenants, adding that the units were still “filthy” when those tenants moved out.
“A lot of these folks say, ‘This place is so horrible,’” Stair said. “Well, if you move out, I’m going to re-rent it, so it’s not that horrible. Sometimes, the reason it’s horrible is because of the tenant.”
‘I don’t have any place to go.’
Three years ago, Amy Espinoza decided to move out of their cozy apartment on Milwaukee’s south side when rent went up by $300.
Now, Espinoza lives in an eight-unit S2 Real Estate Group apartment on South 13th Street and West Arthur Avenue, and says they are left to deal with rats, broken entryways and water damage from a leak under the sink.
The water damage causes mold, leaving Espinoza, who struggles with asthma, with a year-round cough.
Espinoza said they have repeatedly reported these concerns through S2’s maintenance portal, but it takes the company weeks to make repairs. When repairs are made, they are usually quick fixes to comply with building codes.
Most concerning to Espinoza, however, was discovering squatters in the basement.
Espinoza alerted S2 Real Estate Group to the situation but received no response. On several occasions, Espinoza asked the squatters to leave or called the police to intervene. Even after police visits, the squatters kept coming back.
Despite the issues, Espinoza has stayed in the apartment because others cost too much.
Espinoza’s monthly rent is $800, which is around $250 below the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Milwaukee, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Espinoza is aware of local programs that support renters but apprehensive about taking action against S2 Real Estate Group.
“I try not to start as many problems as possible because I don’t want to get evicted,” Espinoza said. “I don’t have any place to go.”
Criminal complaint exposes safety concerns previously dismissed by S2 Real Estate Group
The criminal case against Stair highlights another major safety concern for tenants.
Stair is charged with conspiracy, drug counts, maintaining a drug house and money laundering. The case has been under investigation since May 2024, according to a 176-page criminal complaint.
Stair has not yet entered a plea.
In the complaint, federal agents identified 25 properties owned by S2 Real Estate Group that were associated with drug trafficking or known to be used by alleged dealers.
Stair’s business model included renting his properties directly to drug dealers, either to be used as “stash houses” to store drugs or as “trap houses” to sell to buyers, according to the complaint.
Stair would task these dealers with managing his apartment building, including finding drug addicts to rent the units to and withholding drugs from those tenants if they were behind on rent, the complaint said.
“Nobody ever admits they’re dealing drugs, but it’s pretty obvious,” Stair told the Journal Sentinel prior to his arrest, referring to some of his tenants who he said he suspected of dealing drugs.
Colón’s building was not among the 25 properties listed in the complaint, but he said he reported concerns of possible drug and human trafficking in the building to Stair on several occasions.
Colón said his concerns were repeatedly dismissed, leaving him to display his own signs, which read “Attention: No Loitering, No Drug Activity.”
It took several calls to the police for Stair to finally address the drug activity in the building, according to Colón.
City response to S2 Real Estate Group
A federal magistrate judge has ordered that Stair remain in jail after prosecutors argued that he is a danger to the community as the alleged head of a drug trafficking operation.
Advocates and elected officials say the lack of accountability on basic code violations and tenant complaints could have left the door open for broader abuses of power.
“Milwaukee renters are being exploited by landlords who disregard the law and are willing to break the law to make a quick buck,” said Kastner of Legal Action Wisconsin.
Kastner added that landlord-friendly laws in Wisconsin and Milwaukee have created communities where investors can raise rents without spending on needed repairs.
Neighborhood Services typically reports landlords with a high number of unresolved violation orders to the City Attorney’s Office, but Stair has not been reported because he generally achieves compliance, according to Jeremy McGovern, Neighborhood Services’ communications officer.
The City Attorney’s Office recently took civil action against landlord David Tomblin and his rental company, Highgrove Holdings Management LLC, alleging property neglect, code violations and unpaid taxes across his 200 properties. In that case, the office is asking the court to remove the properties from under Tomblin’s control through a receivership.
Tomblin responded to the lawsuit in an interview with the Journal Sentinel. He said that the City of Milwaukee was “behind him” and named Mayor Cavalier Johnson as a government official supporting him.
Johnson’s office rebutted Tomblin’s comment, stating, “He [Johnson] has no tolerance for landlords who fail to maintain acceptable conditions for their tenants.”
City Attorney Evan Goyke said he could not comment on whether the City could sue Stair for negligence or to remove Stair as the owner of these properties through a receivership.
While most of Stair’s properties are on Milwaukee’s south side, both Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa and Alderman Pérez, who represent that area, said they were unaware of the number or the severity of the tenant complaints against Stair.
Zamarripa said she did receive complaints about Stair, but not enough to raise alarms. She trusted Stair, she said, partially because he’s local and not an out-of-state corporate landlord.
“He charmed me,” she said.
Pérez also received a handful of complaints about S2 Real Estate Group, mainly relating to violations of the nuisance ordinance. Pérez said he recommended the Common Council not renew Stair’s rooming-house license after Stair missed a deadline to resolve a 2016 nuisance violation at one of his rooming houses.
Stair later donated $200 to Pérez’s campaign in 2019, though Perez said he does not remember Stair attending any campaign events and believes the funds were sent through an online donation.
Now, in response to the Journal Sentinel’s findings and the criminal charges, Pérez and Zamarripa said the number of tenant complaints to various city departments is a cause for concern.
“It seems clear that the system we have for complaint-driven actions against properties isn’t working,” Pérez said in a news release following Stair’s arrest.
“We must find a way to be more aggressive on the front end, so this burden is not solely on residents.”
This story was produced by the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch, a reporting initiative comprised of four reporters, including Layton Boulevard West reporter Alyssa N. Salcedo (asalcedo@usatodayco.com), Harambee reporter Everett Eaton (ejeaton@usatodayco.com), Metcalfe Park reporter April Quevedo (aquevedo@usatodayco.com), and visual journalist Angelica Edwards (aedwards@usatodayco.com), who covers all three neighborhoods.
Neighborhood Dispatch reporting is supported by Zilber Family Foundation, Bader Philanthropies, Journal Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc. USA TODAY Co., Inc. is the parent company of this publication.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Renters say they live with mold, cold and danger in Sam Stair’s S2 properties
Reporting by Alyssa N. Salcedo, Everett Eaton, April Quevedo and Angelica Edwards, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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