02-06-2025
Milwaukee said yes to housing. Why are politicians saying no to lower rents?
Since the pandemic, Milwaukee has evolved into a dramatically different city. Long viewed as a symbol of post-industrial decline, the city now has some of the nation's fastest-rising rents. Once dismissed as a flyover city, it's been "discovered" by out-of-towners for its old-world charm and unpretentious culture.
Yet amid all this change, one thing remains the same: our local political tradition of burying our heads in the sand and hoping the problem fixes itself. But Milwaukee's passive stance on housing will only accelerate displacement, weaken the economy, and deepen inequality, just so local legislators don't have to legislate.
Other cities have faced similar transformations before. New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area, once known for crime, decay, and suburban flight, are now among the world's most expensive urban centers, pushing their working-class residents to the exurban fringe, or even directly onto the street.
They reached this point by allowing newcomers to outbid and replace existing communities instead of creating more space for them to go — the same strategy Milwaukee currently follows. While Milwaukee is unlikely to see such extreme growth, Madison, Pittsburgh and parts of Chicago have clearly shown how inaction accelerates gentrification and displacement everywhere.
However, some cities, like Austin, took proactive steps by significantly expanding housing in their urban core, causing rents to drop by 22%. Despite fears from homeowners about falling property values and activists about rising rents, Austin's approach achieved the opposite: rent, condos and new suburban houses all became more affordable, while urban home values appreciated. In other words, everyone but landlords won.
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Minneapolis initially adopted a similar growth-focused strategy, also lowering rents by 22% while peer cities saw increases. However, a court blocked the plan and rents once again started rising. This shift now means Minnesota is projected to lose a congressional seat and electoral vote in 2030 — joining states like California, New York and Illinois in handing over power to Republicans by sticking with policies that accomplish the opposite of their stated goal.
There is another state on that list: Wisconsin, primarily due to Madison embracing that same policy approach. Milwaukee, however, attempted something different by electing a mayor, Cavalier Johnson, who ran under the slogan of 'one million Milwaukeeans' in a landslide. Yet, when he introduced his 'Growing MKE' proposal, a peculiar alliance between more conservative and left-wing figures formed to oppose it.
This paradoxical partnership isn't unique, it happens almost every time – local Democrats are breaking with former President Barack Obama and nearly every other national Democrat to join Donald Trump in defending housing policies that were explicitly invented to segregate minorities and the working class away from those with means.
Opposition might make sense if Growing MKE involved bulldozing neighborhoods for apartment towers, but the plan would merely revert to the rules the city was built with: apartments above shops on main streets, and duplexes or triplexes where they already exist. Because it only legalizes what's already there, development would primarily replace vacant or deteriorating properties.
Concerns about displacement are understandable, but Milwaukee's Bronzeville offers powerful proof that growth prevents displacement. By rezoning for more housing consistent with existing character, Bronzeville went from decaying to one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods, even earning recognition in the New York Times. Homeowners built wealth alongside nonprofits and small developers. Low-income renters stayed because wealthier newcomers chose newer units, and new affordable housing outpaced units lost.
Strangely, anti-growth politicians obscure their positions, claiming they support more housing, but then resubmitting many of the Growing MKE's proposals with a litany of poison pills; obtuse mandates that have shown to limit the construction of new housing to an amount one could count on their hands and feet in every single city where they've been implemented.
Even after countless reductions in the plan's scope at the request of the council, it is still quite unclear if they will pass the much weakened proposal.
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If local politicians decide to break with their party to join with Trump to fight for historically unsuccessful policies that empower Republicans, they owe voters clarity. Likewise, if Democrats and business leaders hope to maintain Wisconsin's political relevance, they must press local politicians to part with the policies that undermine their goals.
Most importantly, if Milwaukeeans want to avoid displacement and skyrocketing rents, they must demand their council members support the mayoral mandate they voted for.
A Wisconsin native, Jacob Major works as a political strategist by day and a policy activist by night.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Mayor Johnson's housing plan being sunk by allies | Opinion
