Common Council approves annual Housing Trust Fund grants | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Ald. Michael Murphy
February 9, 2017
The Common Council has approved the  $526,000 in funding recommendations for six projects that will construct new housing for those in need, rehabilitate existing housing stock and convert historic buildings to adaptive reuse residential developments.
The projects will leverage an investment of more than $28.7 million in local construction and rehabilitation work over the next year, said Alderman Michael J. Murphy, chair of the HTF advisory board.
Since 2008, the Housing Trust Fund has awarded nearly $6 million dollars in grants, which in turned leveraged $103 million in projects that created or rehabbed 763 units of housing. Of those, Alderman Murphy said that 345 support veterans, the chronically homeless or those with mental illness, and 473 are accessible for people with mobility impairments.
“It’s really remarkable what we have been able to do with just a little up-front investment on the city’s part,” Alderman Murphy said. “For every dollar we have invested in the Housing Trust Fund, we have already seen a return of 17 dollars in projects to help those in need.”
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Alderman Murphy said the six 2017 projects selected by the advisory board for funding will also create jobs and valuable opportunities for construction workers, carpenters and those in the trades. “When we ensure that the investments that we make in housing also create jobs for local tradespeople, we foster a win-win for the city—caring for those in need while creating the opportunities Milwaukeeans need to thrive.”
This year, a total of 12 proposals sought nearly $2 million in HTF funding. Of these requests, six were selected to receive funding.
The 2017 HTF awards are as follows:
The awards were approved during the Common Council meeting on February 7.