‘The year of housing’: Milwaukee leaders celebrate more than 3,000 new homeowners

Residents and city leaders came together at the Community Development Alliance, 3800 W. Lisbon Ave., on Wednesday, Feb. 18 to unveil a mural celebrating more than 3,000 new homeowners since 2023.

In 2021, the city of Milwaukee launched the Milwaukee’s Collective Affordable Housing Strategic Plan. The 10-year plan lays out a road map on advancing racial equity and ensuring a quality affordable home for every Milwaukeean.

The plan has four main focuses: strategies to increase Black and Latino homeownership; strategies to ensure that Black and Latino residents stay in their homes; systems to make housing more affordable for those earning between $7.25 to $15 per hour; and ensuring that existing affordable housing for residents earning $7.25 to $15 per hour is preserved.

Local muralist Tia Richardson created a mural commemorating the new homeownership efforts after collaborative brainstorming with local residents and staff from the Community Development Alliance. 

“I wanted to visualize that connection to developing the hearts and minds of the community, developing all of those involved and developing the future,” said Richardson.

Ensuring residents have stable, quality housing has become one of the main focuses for Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who declared 2026 “the year of housing.”

“I’ve asked every single city department to see what we can do to support housing this year,” said Johnson.

For Beatriz Espinoza, homeownership was not a priority until she became pregnant with her daughter, Elena Fernandez. She no longer wanted to have to deal with a landlord and closed on their home shortly after  daughter was born. 

Espinoza said she doesn’t think she would have been able to become a homeowner without support of the Community Development Association. 

“Even if I would have, I wouldn’t be as financially stable as I feel that I am,” Espinoza said.

Espinoza took advantage of the organization’s Early Childhood Education Homes, a program run in collaboration with several community partners.  The program provided homes exclusively for early childhood educators for approximately $105,000.

While 3,000 new homeowners is a significant milestone, the efforts to make homeownership more accessible in the city won’t stop there.

“The main goal of the affordable housing plan is to get and sustain 1,000 new homeowners each year,” said Teig Whaley-Smith, the Chief Alliance Executive for the Community Development Alliance.

---

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.