Common Ground and HACM Tenants Call for New Leadership: Hines and the HACM Board Must Go
Common Ground and HACM Tenants Call for New Leadership: Hines and the HACM Board Must Go
Two reports issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and recently released by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MJS) reveal a staggering level of incompetence at the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee. The reports are filled with troubling phrases:
“intentional misreporting”
“complete breakdown of internal controls”
“staff not sufficiently trained”
“no oversight”
“at risk for serious fraud, waste, and abuse”
“inconsistencies”
“[f]ailure to monitor and document”
“serious concern”
“grossly inaccurate”
“violation of the Privacy Act”
“lack of understanding”
“increases operational risk”
“cumbersome and inefficient”
“misleading and untrue”
“not in compliance”
“violated its own policy”
“troubling errors and discrepancies.”
Behind closed doors even Willie Hines, the Executive Director of HACM, admits that HACM is devolving into ruin. MJS quotes him telling his staff, “So now the wheel really has fallen off the cart.”
HACM residents have been saying repeatedly that the Rent Assistance office loses their paperwork and then blames residents for not submitting it. Now we know why: “HACM has boxes full of documents that have been dropped off by applicants . . . . [that] could be dated from the last 12-24 months or older.” “[T]he agency is not processing this documentation within the regulatory timeframes.” Furthermore, HACM put residents’ personally identifying information at risk: “boxes were observed in unsecured common areas of the HACM-RAP Offices such as stairwells and hallways. . . . . social security cards displayed openly on unattended desks.” Many of the 15,000 Milwaukee residents who depend on HACM for housing or Section 8 payments are suffering because of HACM’s incompetence.
This isn’t a matter of fixing a couple of issues. These reports show wide-spread incompetence and mismanagement. This is systemic.
HACM is now spending millions of taxpayer dollars – money that should’ve been spent on providing good quality housing – to hire consultants Nan McKay and the accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen to help clean up this mess. Hiring expensive consultants will not solve the problem of incompetent management.
Director Willie Hines has shown that he cannot run a $287 million organization with hundreds of employees. He is a politician, not a housing director. Ironically, he is paid $240,000 -- more than Mayor Johnson or Governor Evers. Hines was the Board Chair of HACM from 1998-2014; he’s been at the helm of this organization for 24 of the last 25 years. These problems started, worsened, and continue on his watch. Hines, his top staff, and the HACM Board need to be replaced. There should be a national search to find a qualified Executive Director.
→ Read the full reports:
qad-full-report-april-10-2023.pdf
wi002-hacm-2022-on-site-monitoring-letter98.pdf
For more information, contact Common Ground Lead Organizer Jennifer O’Hear at 414-467-9981 or jennifer.ohear@commongroundwi.org.