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MILWAUKEE, WI (WSAU) – In the coming weeks, the second-largest landlord organization in the city of Milwaukee may declare bankruptcy due to accusations that the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee knowingly misused public funds.
According to sources who spoke to TMJ4, the Housing Authority is accused of misusing Section 8 funding after Brad Leak, the Chief Financial Officer of HACM, sent an email to staff members on Monday detailing the organization’s dire financial situation. Jenna Rae of TMJ4 reviewed the email and found that, based on unreconciled cash balances in the agency’s audits, $2.8 million in funds had been extracted from the Section 8 program since 2019 to pay for agency overhead salaries and benefits in order to process payroll.
Leak’s email, which Rae reports ended with “HELP!!!,” stated that “the impending cost-cutting measures imposed are essential to the short-term success. If not implemented in two weeks, I can not promise how payroll will be met.”
This report indicates that to pay themselves and their benefits, HACM staff members unlawfully took funds from the federal program that helps thousands of very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled afford housing. Their upcoming agenda states that the board of HACM will update the agency’s financial position at a special meeting on Friday afternoon and intends to approve a “recovery agreement” with HUD.
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