By Dawn Anastasi, RPA Board Member

This morning I went to the Section 8 Housing Providers meeting hosted by Steve Fendt and Jacqueline Martinez of Housing Authority City of Milwaukee. Alexi Millard, Landlord Engagement Coordinator for Milwaukee County Rent Assistance, was also there. I would say there were about 100-130 landlords and other attendees there (including Mediate Milwaukee for example).

Here is a summary of the notes I took during the meeting as well as some of the information from the handouts.

Housing Statistics by the Numbers

• There are approximately 15,000 people on the waiting list for Section 8 in Milwaukee County
• Over 1500 private housing providers in the City of Milwaukee receive voucher payments each month directly from the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM).
• Over 6000 eligible households receive housing assistance through vouchers in Milwaukee.

Issues Landlords Reported working with HACM in the Past

1. Communication
2. Inspections
3. Rent Reasonableness
4. Tenant Accountability

How HACM is Working to Resolve these Issues

Rental property owners help make housing affordable by partnering with HACM and the Milwaukee County Rent Assistance programs.

1) Communicating with HACM

• Phone calls are difficult for staff to return
• Use email if possible, it's faster
• Offices were shut down during COVID however are now open on Tuesdays and Thursdays

2) Inspections

• HACM has put out a one-page guide to help rental housing providers more easily understand what the inspector is looking for.
• One source of confusion is that a stove and refrigerator must be present at the time of inspection.
• A new email address for scheduling inspections may help. (The phone number 414-286-5658 is also available.)

3) Rent Reasonableness

• In the past, there wasn't enough transparency as to how the amount HACM would pay for a rental was derived.
• As of March 2023, HACM has partnered with AffordableHousing.com which is free.
• This website gives you a free rent estimator so you can see if your rent is in a reasonable range.
• HACM staff try to find comps within a 2 mile range that are at least 80% compatible (same # of bedrooms, etc)
• Amenities like ceiling fans, etc can help boost how much rent you can collect.

4) Tenant Accountability

• If the rental housing provider sends out a 30-day notice to pay rent or vacate to a Section 8 tenant, they must also send a copy to the Rent Assistance office.
• HACM shared a copy of the letter that they will send out to the tenant to try to hold them accountable.
• Organizations like Mediate Milwaukee can also get involved to work with the owner/tenant on an agreement.

HACM hopes to have more of these meetings between rental housing providers and their staff in the future, in order to improve communication and transparency.

In addition, a new landlord portal is launching soon with some features landlords should find helpful.

• Rent ledger
• Case worker info
• Inspection reports
• Ability to add/change banking info for direct deposit

Have you worked with Rent Assistance in the past? If not, would the information above encourage you to work with them again?