Milwaukee gets national attention for collaborative housing effort

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has honored the Greater Milwaukee Foundation for working on housing issues with the Community Development Alliance.

Since 2020, the alliance – an affiliation of community development funders and practitioners – has led Milwaukee’s first collective affordable housing plan, which advocates for racial equity through systemic change, including creating opportunities for 32,000 Black and Latino residents to become homeowners.

“2020 was when the funders and other folks said: ‘We need to focus on housing. We’re in a housing crisis. Let’s focus on housing,’ “ said Teig Whaley-Smith, Community Development Alliance’s chief alliance executive. “And that’s what was the impetus of doing the plan.” 

In June, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, a founding partner and a principal funder of the alliance, received the 2023 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships for its work with the alliance.