On The Issues: Who Owns The House Next Door?

Description

This virtual On the Issues event will examine the dramatic changes that have occurred in housing markets across the country, including Milwaukee, and will feature three guests: award-winning investigative reporter and author of Homewreckers, Aaron Glantz; Lubar Center research fellow John D. Johnson; and Milwaukee Common Council President Cavalier Johnson.

When the Great Recession hit the United States in 2008, it led to a massive number of foreclosures and a new opportunity for Wall Street investors. They purchased thousands of homes, which were then rented. In his book Homewreckers, Aaron Glantz reports on what happened and how that has fundamentally reshaped the housing market in American cities. John Johnson, research fellow at the Law School’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, will expand on work previously done by the Lubar Center’s Milwaukee Area Project, which found a dramatic decline in owner occupancy in Milwaukee and a sharp increase in properties owned by people who live outside the city. Common Council President Cavalier Johnson will discuss what the city is doing to address these issues, and what the decline in owner occupancy has meant for Milwaukee neighborhoods.