HUD secretary visits Milwaukee, announces additional funding for affordable housing developments

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – The acting secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development visited Milwaukee Tuesday, announcing ways to make affordable housing more accessible.

Secretary Adrianne Todman visited the McKinley School Lofts, a former Milwaukee school that was converted into 39 units of spacious affordable housing.

HUD is hoping to see more projects like this in Milwaukee and across the country.

During a media conference alongside Congresswoman Gwen Moore on Tuesday, Todman announced an additional $100 million toward a federal program called PRO Housing: Pathways to Removing Obstacles.

That money will be distributed to communities across the country, potentially including Milwaukee.

The city recently received $2 million in June from PRO Housing funds.

The program allows people to continue to apply to build affordable housing structures, and Todman said it could ultimately lower housing costs.

"One of the reasons there are high housing costs is because we just don't have enough places for people to live," she explained. "With more places to live and more units, it drives competition, and costs go down."

According to HUD, more than 95,000 Milwaukee households are struggling with high housing costs, and more than half of Wisconsin renters pay more than a third of their income for housing.