As Milwaukee faces an affordable housing crisis, many low-income residents find themselves grappling with an additional obstacle: housing voucher discrimination.
Despite city and federal laws prohibiting discrimination against voucher holders, advocates at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council say landlords still find ways to deny housing to those relying on assistance.
They say this practice not only deepens housing insecurity but also exacerbates homelessness and segregation in the city.
Local experts have said the city’s affordable housing crisis is the result of rising rent, stagnant wages and a lack of available units.
However, advocacy groups and local government agencies are stepping up to address these challenges in an effort to protect low-income residents.
Voucher discrimination
Section 8 vouchers, which are part of the Housing Choice Voucher Program, are designed to help low-income families, the elderly and disabled individuals afford decent and safe housing. The program allows recipients to pay only 30% of their income toward rent, with the government covering the rest.
Despite the intent to alleviate housing burdens, voucher holders say they face outright rejections or subtle barriers from landlords unwilling to accept vouchers.
Some landlords impose strict income requirements or screening processes that disproportionately impact low-income renters, excluding Section 8 recipients.
One Section 8 voucher tenant, who did not want to be named for the sake of her children, said income requirements, such as ones that request tenants to make three times the rent, are unfair as rents are steadily increasing and job wages are not.
Some landlords openly refuse to accept Section 8 vouchers.
Sarah Jenkins, the administrator for outreach and education programs for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, said a landlord’s refusal to accept housing vouchers means that voucher holders have minimal options.
“And very often the options they do have are concentrated in low-income, low-opportunity neighborhoods, which for the voucher holder, means that they’re often stuck with low-quality housing options,” Jenkins said.
The community-wide impact, said Jenkins, is perpetual residential segregation and concentrations of poverty with many low-income residents locked out of better housing options, “which is essentially the purpose of the voucher program.”
Impact on residents
The Section 8 tenant, who did not want to be named, said she never had an issue finding housing until she received her Section 8 voucher. But now she’s stuck in a home and neighborhood she finds uncomfortable.
In 2022, she left her apartment in Westlawn Gardens to put her Section 8 voucher to use but immediately ran into problems finding homes that would accept the voucher.
“It’s like no one wants to accept the voucher,” she said. “The ones that do are charging crazy rents for homes falling apart.”
Because she has a disabled child, she said she usually stayed in Brown Deer, where the schools were accessible and she was comfortable her child would be accommodated.
She now lives in the Amani neighborhood and is concerned nearby schools won’t accommodate her son.
The Amani neighborhood is one of Milwaukee’s most economically challenged neighborhoods and has high poverty and incarceration rates.
The tenant said her house is in horrible condition with a landlord who won’t fix things, but it was all she could find at the time.
“They’re throwing us inside the trash,” she said. “The walls are stained yellow, there is no doorbell, the windows are letting air in and out, so it’s a hassle on the electric bill.”
She said she wants to give her children the best environment to grow up and live in but Section 8 has failed to help her in doing so.
Jenkins, of the Fair Housing Council, said the inability to secure safe, affordable housing also has ripple effects, impacting health, educational attainment and economic stability.
Solutions
Despite the challenges, efforts are being made to assist troubled families.
LIFT: According to Alexi Millard, the lead community intervention specialist for the Milwaukee County Housing Department, Landlord Incentives to Foster Tenancy, or LIFT, incentivizes landlords who accept housing vouchers and other rental assistance.
Millard said landlords can participate in LIFT by lowering their tenant screening criteria, and, in return, the county can give them up to three times the contract rent in risk mitigation.
Opportunity MKE: Similar to the county’s LIFT program, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council’s Opportunity MKE mobility program offers incentives to landlords who rent to people with housing vouchers.
Stefanie Ebbens, the Fair Housing Council’s senior program administrator, said there is a myth about families who receive vouchers destroying property at a higher rate than tenants who don’t receive assistance.
Opportunity MKE allows the council to guarantee landlords that if damages exceeding the security deposit amount are done to a property, they will be reimbursed.
Resources
For residents facing discrimination, the Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, Legal Action of Wisconsin and Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union offer legal support and guidance.
“I would encourage people to continue to advocate for accessible and affordable housing, “Millard said. “One of the best ways to do that is to get in touch with your local representatives.”
How to report housing discrimination
Milwaukee County residents can report fair housing violations through the county’s Fraud Hotline at 414-933-7283 or hotline@4securemail.com.
Hotline complaints are transferred to the county’s corporation counsel, said Jennifer Folliard, director of audits in the county comptroller office.
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Fair Housing Council offers assistance on filing complaints. Call 414-278-1240 or fill out a form at this link.
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