Milwaukee community leaders to conduct home ownership forum this Friday
Milwaukee Sun.Com 30-01-2013
Can neighborhoods that have suffered the effects of multiple foreclosures and condemned homes rebound?
Can Milwaukee avoid the path of other cities like Detroit and Cleveland and keep its housing stock occupied and its neighborhoods strong?
Community leaders will address these questions and others during a panel discussion on urban housing, neighborhood vitality, and the foreclosure crisis this Friday, February 1st from 6-8pm in Milwaukee’s City Hall Rotunda.
This event, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Urban Studies Programs, in collaboration with the Mayor’s office, will feature a panel of distinguished speakers that include:
William Tisdale, President and CEO of the Metropolitan of Milwaukee Fair Housing Council;
Anna-Marie Opgenorth, Executive Director of Historic Milwaukee, Inc.; Art Dahlberg,
Commissioner, Department of Neighborhood Services for the City of Milwaukee; and Alderman Nik Kovac of Milwaukee’s Third District. Amanda Seligman, Professor of History and Urban Studies, will moderate, and Alderman Bob Bauman of the fourth district will give opening remarks. The event is free and open to the public.
Home ownership for many has been closely tied to the American Dream and upward mobility.
Now that we are several years away from the bursting of the housing bubble, what is the state of our urban neighborhoods? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that “Mortgage foreclosure
filings in southeastern Wisconsin decreased for the third consecutive year in 2012…”
http://www.jsonline.com/business/foreclosure-filings-drop-for-third-straight-year-9387rsn-185426141.html
Although foreclosure rates have declined, metro Milwaukee’s rates are not declining as quickly as the rest of the state’s and unemployment remains high, particularly for African American men. According to the American Council of Civil Liberties, the repercussions nationally are immense, “about 1 in 10 homeowners have lost their homes to foreclosure or are seriously delinquent on their loans. But for black and Latino homeowners, the figure is roughly 1 in 4.” If job and income growth that portends neighborhood stability have not recovered, what does this mean for the city’s neighborhoods?
The catalyst for the panel is an exhibition on Milwaukee’s Thurston Woods neighborhood, which was created by UWM students last summer in a class taught by UWM Architecture Professor Arijit Sen. The exhibition will be on display and both Professor Sen and longtime Thurston Woods resident Mavis McCallum will be also giving introductory remarks at the event.
