• Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

Your neighborhood. Your News.

newsMilwaukee NNSMilwaukee NNSSearch
Subscribe to NNS today!
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    • Arts and Recreation
    • Community
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Health and Wellness
    • Housing
    • Public Safety
    • NNS Spotlight
    • Special Report
  • Posts From Community
    • Submit a Story
  • Community Voices
  • How To
  • Multimedia
    • NNS Local Video
    • Photos
    • NNS on Lake Effect
    • NNS WGLB 1560 Radio
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • About
    • Staff
    • Partners
    • News 414
    • The neighborhoods we cover
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

Diederich College of Communication, Marquette University

You are here: Home / Home / Carousel / Northside Housing Initiative tackles housing and employment issues plaguing the city

Northside Housing Initiative tackles housing and employment issues plaguing the city

January 18, 2016 by Brendan O’Brien Leave a Comment

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
The Northside Housing Initiative renovates blighted homes. (Photo by Adam Carr)

The Northside Housing Initiative renovates blighted homes. (Photo by Adam Carr)

Editor’s note: This article is one of an occasional series profiling the 15 finalists for the Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDIs). The Northside Housing Initiative is a finalist for the BMO Harris Cornerstone Award, which recognizes an organization for its commitment and effectiveness over time.

Nikesha Bynum had nothing seven months ago. The mother of three young children had no job, no home and no hope.

But it was then, during her darkest moments, when the trajectory of her life dramatically and instantly changed with a routine visit to the food pantry at Northcott Neighborhood House, where she learned about the Northside Housing Initiative.

“I walked in for the food pantry and walked out with an opportunity to advance my life,” she said.

She quickly signed up for the initiative’s job training program that prepares unemployed Milwaukeeans, like herself, for careers in the construction trades.

“From there, I went forward and I am the leading supervisor now, after seven months,” said the 30-year-old Bynum, wearing safety goggles and a hardhat. “The program means a lot to me. I’ve learned so much.”

Workers put boards up to protect windows at a house being renovated by the Northside Housing Initiative. (Photo by Adam Carr)

Workers put boards up to protect windows at a house being renovated by the Northside Housing Initiative. (Photo by Adam Carr)

Bynum, who now has a home and has gotten several job offers, is a prime example of the positive impact the Northside Housing Initiative is having on some of the city’s poorest residents and neighborhoods.

In 2007, Milwaukee officials approached Gorman & Company seeking help to deal with the growing number of blighted foreclosed houses on the North Side that the city owned. In response, Gorman & Company partnered with the city, the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority and several community development organizations to create the Northside Housing Initiative.

“I view the blighted, tax-foreclosed home as an opportunity and an asset for Milwaukee (while other) cities see that tax-foreclosed home as a liability,” said Ted Matkom, Wisconsin market president at Gorman. The partnership “was based on improving the housing stock, number one; and number two, reducing the crime rate because these tax-foreclosed homes, according to the police department, are the number one cause of crime.”

During eight phases of the project, the Northside Housing Initiative has purchased 250 vacant lots and blighted homes from the city and has invested $84 million in redeveloping the properties. The effort has resulted in 282 affordable rental homes being put back on the tax rolls in the Metcalfe Park, North Division, Sherman Park, Washington Park and Amani neighborhoods.

The need for the initiative to address blighted housing in the area has been accentuated during the last several years by the $40 million Century City project, an 86-acre business park in the 30th Street Corridor, according to Matkom.

“The neighborhood around there is really in need of an upgrade so that employers and employees feel safe and welcomed,” Matkom said.

The Northside Housing Initiative is filling a gap in the redevelopment efforts in the area, according to Willie Smith, housing director at Northwest Side Community Development Corporation, which partners with the initiative on several other community development fronts.

“Looking at the properties in a number of these areas, we just could not afford putting the kind of investment into them that was needed,” Smith noted.

Smith said he is able to leverage the work that is being done by the Northside Housing Initiative when he tries to sell a property in the area.

“If there is a house that is near us that we can’t afford to rehab, they can acquire that property and make it a rental house, thereby having us not have this eyesore next to a property that we are trying to sell,” he said.

All tenants who live in a home owned by the Northside Housing Initiative will have the option to purchase their property after 15 years for the remaining debt amount, which is expected to be about $30,000.

“We are looking for homeownership,” Matkom said. “There’s such a perception of crime here and that this is a war zone. Perception is everything and we are trying to switch that around.”

The initiative is also trying to address the considerable unemployment on the North Side of Milwaukee, where more than one-fifth of residents do not have a job. More than 200 individuals, like Bynum, who were unemployed or recently released from prison, completed a soft skills program and then were trained in construction trades such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical and HVAC, before working on renovating and building sites.

“We are going one step further with the workforce initiative,” Matkom said. “We are trying to put these able-bodied people back to work (in) the construction trades and reform the North Side of Milwaukee.”

Gorman created and implemented the initiative through partnerships with several workforce development programs including the Milwaukee Workforce Investment Board, Northcott Neighborhood House and Big Step, a pre-apprenticeship tutoring program.

About 840 people are on the waiting list to join the program, proving that people want to work, Matkom said.

“It shows that as long as you do as you are supposed to do … you can progress. I went from nothing to something,” Bynum said. “My future is definitely bright now.”

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

Filed Under: Carousel, Home, Housing, Neighborhoods, News Tagged With: MANDI2016

Avatar

About Brendan O’Brien

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement
Advertisement

How To …

How to avoid stimulus check scams

A new round of stimulus checks will likely also bring out a new round of scams. Here’s what to watch out for.

More "How To" articles

Advertisement

Recommended Reading

A Vaccine Reality Check

The Atlantic

UWM study on the state of Black Milwaukee describes the city as ‘the epitome of a 21st century racial regime’

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Videos Show How Federal Officers Escalated Violence in Portland

The New York Times

These mayors want to fight Covid-19 and the recession with one big idea: A guaranteed income

Vox

The World John Lewis Helped Create

The Atlantic

News

  • Arts and Recreation
  • Economic Development
  • Education
  • Health and Wellness
  • Housing
  • Public Safety
  • NNS Spotlight
  • Special Reports
  • Multimedia
    • NNS Videos
    • Photos
    • NNS on Lake Effect Radio

Engage with us

  • Posts from Community
  • Community Voices
  • Submit a Story

About NNS

  • Staff
  • Partners
  • News414
  • The neighborhoods we cover
  • Internship opportunities
  • Careers
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise

Connect with us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS feed

Communities

Contact

mailing address
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Diederich College of Communication
Marquette University
1131 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Johnston Hall 430
Milwaukee, WI 53233

email
info@milwaukeenns.org

phone & fax
PHONE: 414.604.6397 FAX: 414.288.6494

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service is a project of Diederich College of Communication and Marquette University.
© 2020 Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Terms of use.
1131 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee WI 53233 • info@milwaukeenns.org

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in