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Milwaukee Housing Authority board candidate promises improved dialogue

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Milwaukee Housing Authority board candidate promises improved dialogue

Public housing residents left City Hall with hope after city officials moved forward with plans to install new oversight of the troubled Milwaukee Housing Authority.

Karen Gotzler, a consultant who has helped turn around other struggling public housing authorities, is expected to be confirmed to the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners Nov. 6 by the Common Council. The Board’s Rules and Governance Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend confirmation.

Gotzler pledged to meet with public housing residents regularly and conduct comprehensive performance reviews of the Housing Authority’s senior management. He is one of three board members appointed by Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

“I think the Housing Authority has a long way to go to fulfill its mission,” Gotzler told committee members.

Residents told the committee they are eager to start an open dialogue with the board, something they say has broken down in recent years.

“We want accountability and we want to build a relationship of respect because right now we don’t have that at all,” said Roye “Chris” Logan.

Logan is a resident of Mitchell Court and a leader of Common Ground, a local non-profit organization seeking changes to the Housing Authority.

The Housing Administration has faced problems

The authority, which manages about 4,000 rental units and administers about $42 million a year in rental assistance, has been mired in scandal for nearly two years.

In late 2022, federal auditors warned that the agency was “at risk of serious fraud, waste and abuse.”

In August, public housing residents sued the authority, accusing management of allowing bed bug and insect infestations to fester in their homes.

The authority is now negotiating with an outside contractor to run its tenancy assistance office. This is one of many “corrective actions” that federal regulators ordered the agency to take.

Meanwhile, the authority’s board has come under fire for repeatedly canceling meetings and moving others to video calls over the past year. Critics say the board has not been transparent with residents and has not held the authority’s executives accountable.

The seven-seat board is down to just four members, one of whom, acting chair Brooke VandeBerg, has an expired appointment. Gotzler is among three new candidates Mayor Johnson named in July to fill those vacancies.

VandeBerg, whose confirmation hearing had been scheduled for Monday, was absent. On Friday, he withdrew his nomination after facing pushback from residents and community organizers.

Common Ground Executive Director Jennifer O’Hear said the group would have opposed VandeBerg’s nomination because they believe he “represents the status quo” and has been “a rubber stamp” during his tenure.

Common Ground supports Gotzler’s nomination.

A rare agreement between Mayor, Common Ground

It was a rare case of agreement between Common Ground leaders and Johnson. They have clashed in recent months over Johnson’s continued support for the authority’s secretary and chief executive Willie Hines.

In a statement Tuesday, Johnson said, “I nominated Karen Gotzler because she is a thoughtful and experienced person who will add positively to the Housing Authority board. I am pleased that the Board committee advanced her nomination, and I hope my other candidates will get similar approval soon.”

Hearings for Johnson’s other two nominees are scheduled for the November Steering Committee meeting.

Johnson has criticized council members for delaying a decision on their nominees.

Common Council President Jose Perez said, however, that the council needed time to review these candidates carefully. He has warned that he would not approve anyone who does not support “total reform” of the agency, including replacing the authority’s senior management.

After Monday’s meeting, Perez said he hopes the mayor will “work with the council to get (VandeBerg) relieved sooner rather than later.”

“What you saw today is that it takes time,” Perez said. “It takes time to understand. It takes time for the community to engage, to go back and forth. I don’t want you to think that because you nominate someone, a confirmation is a right.”

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