The embattled leader of Milwaukee’s public housing agency, Willie L. Hines, Jr., is retiring at the end of the year.
It marks an end not only to his controversial tenure leading the Milwaukee Housing Authority, responsible for providing housing to thousands of the city’s low-income residents, many of them disabled or elderly, but also to his long career in city government.
Hines, who at one time was considered a potential successor to former Mayor Tom Barrett, recently faced repeated calls from public housing residents and community organizers to step down from his post at the public housing agency.
Here’s what to know about Hines.
Who is Willie Hines, Jr.?
Hines’ parents were born to sharecroppers in Arkansas and each worked in cotton fields as children. They migrated north in the 1950s as teenagers and eventually settled in Milwaukee.
Hines’ father worked as a boxcar cutter for the Milwaukee Road, the city’s eponymous railroad. A gospel singer and a Christian, his mother raised 10 children and was a foster parent to many more. Their home growing up often served as a shelter to people who were hungry or had nowhere else to go, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obituary of Hines’ mother.
Hines is a graduate of Rufus King High School and holds a bachelor of arts degree from Marquette University. A lifelong resident of Milwaukee, Hines has a home in the Sherman Park neighborhood.
When did Willie Hines get involved in city politics?
Early in his career, Hines worked for former congressman Jim Moody as a business liaison representative, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported. He later worked as an economic development specialist at the Milwaukee Urban League.
Hines was elected to the Milwaukee Common Council in 1996 to represent the 17th district — and what would later become the 15th district — in parts of the west and north sides. He became council president in 2004.
What was Willie Hines known for as an alderman?
He had a long legacy in the district.
“Hines was well known in his district, not just because of his longevity as alderman, but because he grew up with many of his constituents,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in 2014.
“It was not uncommon for Hines to show up at a news conference in the city and greet neighbors by name, asking about their children and what was happening on their street.”
“As president of the council, Hines preferred to work quietly and behind the scenes on important city issues, including police-community relations, economic development and the city’s ongoing struggles with foreclosures,” the Journal Sentinel reported.
In 2009, Hines backed Barrett’s and former Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposal for a city takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools, which ultimately failed and would have allowed the mayor to choose the school district’s superintendent.
While council president, Hines’ office would issue a newsletter called the “Hines Herald,” with updates on city business and how-to tips for residents.
When did Willie Hines start working at the Housing Authority?
An ally of former mayor Barrett, Hines was considered a potential successor. But in 2014, he stepped down from the Common Council to take a job at the Housing Authority as its second-in-command, a decision that surprised some of his colleagues in City Hall.
Hines had served on the board of the Housing Authority for nearly two decades by that point, most of that time as its chairman.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, objected to Hines’ hire at the Housing Authority and forced him to resign because of a conflict-of-interest rule that requires a year-long break before a board member may become a paid employee of the agency.
A HUD official also questioned whether the hiring process was fair or competitive, pointing to other candidates who were rejected without any reason given.
In addition, the HUD official said Hines “does not seem to possess the requisite qualifications, as required by (the Milwaukee Housing Authority’s) own job description for the position,” the Journal Sentinel reported in 2014.
The HUD official also pointed out that Hines was board chair when the Housing Authority failed to comply with federal regulations on hiring low-income workers for an $82 million affordable housing renovation project.
In the end, Hines waited until 2015 to start in the Housing Authority’s No. 2 position.
He took the helm at the Housing Authority in 2021.
Why were there calls for Willie Hines to step down from the Housing Authority?
An estimated 15,000 Milwaukee residents rely on the Housing Authority for shelter. The agency administers more than $40 million a year in rent assistance and manages about 5,200 rental homes — most of them reserved for low-income, elderly or disabled residents.
Hines has been the subject of public calls to resign for more than a year, largely made by public housing residents and organizers with the group Common Ground, who have decried poor or unsanitary conditions inside Housing Authority buildings. Residents also have criticized the agency for billing errors erroneously showing unpaid rent that have led to eviction notices and financial and emotional distress to renters.
More: Lost rent. Botched ledgers. Tenants accuse Milwaukee Housing Authority of pattern of mismanagement
Last year, two federal audit reports detailing “risk for serious fraud, waste and abuse” inside his agency became public.
In late 2022, auditors found more than $3 million in “unexplained variances” in the Housing Authority’s bank balance, and piles of unsorted tenant paperwork, some stacked five feet high, lining the rent assistance program office. In the wake of those audits, the public housing agency was ordered by federal regulators to outsource management of its rent assistance program to an outside vendor.
Public housing residents have also raised concerns about hazardous conditions inside Housing Authority buildings — including mold, gun violence, and rodent and bug infestations.
Why is Willie Hines stepping down now?
“There’s a time and a season for everything, and as a result, my time at the Housing Authority has come to an end,” Hines told the Journal Sentinel in an interview Friday announcing his retirement.
He told a reporter he is eligible for his city pension after turning 60 years old this year.
As the Housing Authority’s top executive, Hines was among the highest paid public officials in the state. In 2023, he was paid $252,000 — $82,000 more than the Milwaukee mayor’s salary, and $86,000 more than the state governor’s.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Who is Willie Hines, the Milwaukee Housing Authority head set to retire