The City of Milwaukee will grant up to $1 million to subsidize the renovation of 100 tax-foreclosed homes in the greater Sherman Park area on the city’s northwest side.
The city issued a request for qualification Thursday asking interested developers to attend an informational meeting at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 9 at City Hall.
The project, called The Milwaukee Employment/Renovation Initiative will focus on homes in the area bounded by North 60th Street, North 20th Street, Capitol Drive and Lloyd Street.
Selected developers will be required to purchase five or more city-owned foreclosed properties within the target area, renovate the homes to code-compliant standards, and hire at least one unemployed or underemployed person for each house purchased.
The maximum grant per house is $10,000. Grant funds will be paid to developers after work is completed and a code compliance certificate has been issued, according to the RFQ. Developers will be required to provide payroll documentation regarding the hiring of an unemployed or underemployed individual.
A $2 million Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions grant will pay for the program. Half of the money will be used for the Milwaukee Employment/Renovation Initiative, while the remaining $1 million will be used to demolish or deconstruct 100 city- and privately-owned blighted properties.
The state has turned its focus on the Sherman Park neighborhood since this summer.
In August, violent protests erupted in Sherman Park after Milwaukee police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown fatally shot Sylville Smith. Heaggan-Brown was fired and charged last week with first degree reckless homicide.
Gov. Scott Walker held a press conference in August announcing a $4.5 million plan to address the needs of the neighborhood and what he called “unacceptably high levels of unemployment.”
