Overview

Since 1991 Select Milwaukee has worked on behalf of hard-working modest-income families to overcome a variety of challenges successful homeownership. Financial guidance coupled with home purchase education helps ensure families are ready for the responsibilities and challenges of homeownership. Select Milwaukee is a chartered member of NeighborWorks® America. Substantive partnerships with the private and public sectors have been integral to Select Milwaukee’s track record: since 2000 nearly 1,400 families have become homeowners – their collective wealth as a result has increased $20 million.

Results since 2000: Creating Wealth – Strengthening the Community

• 98% of customers never before owned a home

• 50% of successful customers were African-American, 15% Latino

• 42% of customers were women who head their household
• Creating successful homeownership – fewer than seven per thousand (.63%) customers become a foreclosure statistic

• Customer median income just 66% of Milwaukee metro median

• $139 million mortgage investment leveraged in Milwaukee neighborhoods
• 1,376 new homeowners

• $4.6 million purchase and repair subsidies leveraged from private/public sectors

• More than $1.5 million of home repairs

• Homeownership partnerships with 13 Milwaukee-based firms for over 50,000 employees
• Leveraged over $1.1 million employer-provided downpayment and closing cost assistance

 Why Join the National Housing Conference?

Select Milwaukee joined the National Housing Conference because of the mutual value to both organizations that accrues from the relationship. The support of a diverse membership helps shape the voice and impressive work of NHC. In turn, NHC’s brainpower and advocacy has significant impact on the outcomes of affordable homeownership efforts in Milwaukee and nationally.

NHC Advancing Our Mission

NHC’s employer assisted housing policy, advocacy and research efforts have been of great value to Select Milwaukee’s own EAH initiatives used to advance our mission of helping families achieve the dream of homeownership in because it enriches their lives and strengthen the community.

Select Milwaukee, in partnership with the National Housing Conference and the Center for Housing Policy, is hosting a Milwaukee Workforce Home Benefit Symposium on May 22, 2008. 

Affordable Housing Availability

Select Milwaukee helps hard-working modest-income families navigate the finance and purchase of a home for the first-time. Services empower our customers to secure the best possible housing value for their hard-earned dollar – and to use their home to build wealth. Select Milwaukee leverages the participation of the private sector such as local employers and lenders in innovative efforts to support and expand affordable workforce homeownership opportunities in Milwaukee. These partnerships deliver a variety of technical and financial resources to customers’ transactions – to bridge the affordability gap, to secure quality, low-cost financing, to make needed home improvements at the time of purchase and to maximize the likelihood of their long-term success as homeowners.

Greatest Challenge

In the face of the nonprime and predatory market collapse, the current market in historically affordably-priced Milwaukee actually creates opportunities for modest-income prospective home buyers. The market has softened, but not collapsed – affordable opportunities remain. Many prospective buyers who previously could secure financing regardless of creditworthiness now have an incentive to work with organizations like Select Milwaukee to secure quality, if now more costly, financing. The overriding challenge today is encouraging modest-income families to continue pursue homeownership in the face of a growing perception that financing has dried up and that homeownership may no longer be crucial to wealth-building.