Milwaukee Mayor Barrett on target with housing creation claim
Seeking his fifth term as mayor, Tom Barrett has focused on bringing more jobs and housing to Milwaukee, among other issues.
On the campaign trail, and again in his Feb. 10. 2020 State of the City address, Barrett has touted his 10,000 Homes Initiative, announced in 2018, which aims to increase affordable housing availability in the city by building or improving 10,000 housing units within 10 years.
That reminded us of a claim from his Nov. 20, 2019 campaign launch we wanted to check.
"I am more optimistic now than I have ever been about the future of our city," Barrett said during that speech, before touting various accomplishments. "It’s about building for the future of this city. We’ve done so by creating homes, 7,000 homes."
The issue of housing in Milwaukee has also entered the mayoral race. Primary opponents, including state Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, have criticized Barrett’s record on housing.
Is Barrett, first elected in April 2004, correct that 7,000 homes have been created since he took office? Let’s take a look.
The evidence
When asked for the evidence to back up the claim, Barrett’s staff directed PolitiFact Wisconsin to a Department of City Development (DCD) report.
The report shows that as of October 2019, a total of 7,261 affordable housing units had been developed since Barrett took office in 2004. Of those, 690 were downtown and 6,571 were outside downtown. All are rental units.
"The majority are apartments located in both newly-constructed buildings and existing buildings, including offices, manufacturing space, warehouses and vacant schools that have been redeveloped into apartments," said Martha Brown, deputy DCD commissioner, in an email. "The total also includes several hundred new single-family homes, and both one- and two-family vacant houses that have been completely rehabilitated and made available as affordable rental housing."
Milwaukee housing changes
Map shows the change in the number of residential properties in each aldermanic district from 2004 to 2019.
Design: Eric Litke, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Source: Wisconsin Elections Commission
According to Brown, the developments were financed with federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits allocated by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.
Under the program units are deemed affordable based on a variety of factors, but can’t go to anyone making more than 60% of the median income for the area. For a family of four, the cut-off would be $49,380. In many cases, the apartments are earmarked for those making an even smaller percentage of the median income.