evidence: Their advocacy had pitted Common Ground — whose funding came from a coalition of multiracial faith organizations — against a Democratic establishment that publicly supported Hines, a former city council president. There was an unspoken racial dynamic, too. While public housing tenants were predominantly Black, several of Common Ground’s organizers were White. Some tenants felt betrayed by their representatives, but some Milwaukeeans were hesitant to call for the firing of Black leaders or to embarrass Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee’s first elected Black mayor, who won the office in 2022. [...] Through a spokesperson, the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee told The Washington Post that the agency had a $200 million backlog in "non-emergency capital needs," which it noted was part of an estimated $70 billion backlog gripping public housing authorities across the United States due to "decades of disinvestment by the federal government." It noted that the housing authority’s security services are severely limited by a lack of available funding, which was also true for social services for its at-risk tenants. [...] On April 2, Johnson won reelection as Milwaukee’s mayor against a Republican challenger with about 80 percent of the vote. Three days later, a member of the mayor’s staff responded to the College Court tenants’ invitation to tour the property: Johnson would not be visiting. "The Mayor and our office are closely following the work at these properties and take the responsibility of ensuring quality housing for Milwaukeeans seriously," said the email.