Says since he took office, the City of Milwaukee has seen the creation of 7,000 new affordable housing units.
Downtown’s population has reached 14,000 and should continue growing. A study I published in 2003 with Cleveland State University’s Center for Housing Research and Policy found that in the waterfront cities of Chicago and Baltimore, 2.2 percent of their region’s middle- and upper-income households lived downtown. The figures for Portland, Oregon, and Milwaukee were, respectively, 2.5 percent and 0.7 percent. If Cleveland’s downtown had 2.5 percent, it would amount to around 10,000 households containing a population of nearly 20,000, which would support more stores, restaurants, and services. Including downtown residents whose income is below mid-level means a total population of 28,000 is possible. That would be double the current figure, or a community the size of Shaker Heights. Space for that many, and more, certainly exists. As downtown’s population continues to grow, so will its attractiveness. I expect it to happen, as long as crime remains under control. But downtown alone will not be enough to offset citywide move-outs, which are likely to increase as regionwide homebuilding increases and enables more out-migration. (Around 4,000 homes were built in the region in both 2015 and 2016. A gradual increase to 7,000 or 8,000 units annually is likely.)