Acts Housing Blog
Sustainable Homeownership: Is the Acts model really working?
Since 1995, over 3,500 families have successfully become homeowners after using some or all of Acts Housing’s programs and services. According to a 2023 study* of property record data, Acts families have found long-term sustainability in homeownership. Lower Foreclosure Rates Foreclosures are 45% lower among Acts families in Milwaukee than in the same neighborhoods overall.…
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A Journey Home: From Section 8 to Building Generational Wealth Through Homeownership
Cassandra Torres’s leaves renting behind, and becomes the first homeowner in her family. Cassandra Torres, and her family were renters on Milwaukee’s North and South side for 17 years. “I lived in section 8 housing from age 5 to 22, then I went to college and started renting on my own.” She knows first hand…
Kayra’s Homeownership Journey: From Dominican Republic to Beloit, Wisconsin.
Kayra Jimenez is a great example of how stable housing has an immensely positive impact on individuals and families. Everyone deserves safe, stable, and affordable housing As a young adult Kayra Jimenez left her home country of the Dominican Republic to live in the United States. She hoped to find more opportunity for advancement and…
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A Promise Kept
Sean and Veronica Chisholm’s unwavering commitment to achieving homeownership. In 1998, Sean Chisholm and his wife Veronica moved from Chicago, IL to Beloit, WI. Tired of the hustle and bustle of a large city, they sought out a fresh start for their family of six. When they made the move to Beloit, Sean made a…
Passing the Torch
How Vanessa Guster led her family towards homeownership in the Rufus King neighborhood. pass the torch (idiom): to hand over a responsibility, duty or knowledge to a successor When Vanessa first started her home buying journey she sought out the advisory of Acts Housing. Acts introduced her to a City of Milwaukee program that offered…
Teachers! We want YOU to become a homeowner!
A Community Development Alliance (CDA) project intended to provide opportunities for early childhood educators to become homeowners has everyone here at Acts excited! In partnership with LISC Milwaukee, the CDA project aims to build 50 new, affordable homes in close proximity to five early education providers (check out Urban Milwaukee for excellent coverage!) One of…
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Anthony Stewart: Building a Legacy Through Homeownership
When we asked Acts alumni, Anthony Stewart, what homeownership meant to him, he responded with one word: Legacy. Generational Wealth Is Built Through Homeownership Homeownership remains the biggest way individuals can build generational wealth. And in the United States whether your parents are homeowners influences whether you’ll be a homeowner. “A child’s likelihood of being…
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Is Affordable Homeownership Even Possible?
The Acts team prides itself on making families our top priority and with that, ensuring that homeownership is not only possible but sustainable. Affordability is always the bottom line when families are securing a loan and purchasing their homes. The Hill recently published an article titled, “Housing Affordability Hits Historic Low” which highlights not only…
Homeownership Educators & Advocates
If you’ve ever met Dee Kemp, Acts’ VP of Programming, you’ve heard her say things like, “We’re here to help you cross homeownership off your to-do list!”
We were born for this: Acts Homeownership Acquisition Fund
Acts Housing has launched a new social enterprise to outcompete predatory investors and increase housing inventory for owner occupancy. Milwaukee is losing 1,000 homeowners of Color every year, a pace that has persisted over the past decade. Families of low-to-moderate income (LMI) are increasingly rent-burdened and forced to make impossible tradeoffs that limit their ability…
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Is A Market-Based Affordable Housing Solution Possible?
Thanks to an invitation from CivicCon and the Pensacola News Journal, Acts’ President & CEO Michael Gosman recently had the opportunity to share Acts Housing’s secret recipe with citizens, policy-makers, and community-builders in Florida. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD7z5Hc2GOw To watch the full presentation, click the link below, and skip ahead 15 minutes: (Skip ahead approximately 15 minutes into…
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The Johnson Family: North of North Avenue
Sleepovers; it’s probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you’re thinking about homeownership, but it’s one of the things that Rae Johnson and their son are most excited about in their new home. Growing up on Milwaukee’s Northside, but attending school in Menomonee Falls, Rae realized that school friends never came over…
Giving First Day
Do you love the rush of clicking that ‘Add To Cart’ button online? Anxiously awaiting your brown box packages to be delivered to your house. Showing off your new flat screen tv with the cool new feature you’ll stop caring about in 2 months because, to be honest, you spend most of your free time…
The Acts Impact – What does your gift do?
Vision so big it makes your stomach hurt Our financial goal for the Longest Neighborhood Table – Impact Edition is to raise $450,000 – our largest target yet. Acts Homebuyer Program Manager Dee often says, “there’s so much vision on this team it makes my stomach hurt!” We think that’s a good thing, and hope…
Making the Impossible Possible
The Hernandez Family Story At the core of everything Acts does are the families we serve. Each family’s story is different, and all month long as we celebrate Longest Neighborhood Table 2021, we’re sharing some of our biggest family success stories. https://youtu.be/1vGXrzWQezM The Bait and Switch Maria and Angel Hernandez spent 8 years trying to…
Required Listening: By Every Measure (Housing Episode)
By Every Measure Last year, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee launched the fantastic, award-winning podcast series, By Every Measure. Co-hosted by data expert & research journalist Reggie Jackson and Radio Milwaukee’s Director of Digital Strategy & Innovation Tarik Moody, each episode focuses on systemic racism in a different sector of Milwaukee (health, education, etc.), using data to…
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Leading by Example: The Alexander Family
What Happens When The Home You Rent Goes Into Foreclosure? At the core of everything Acts does are the families we serve. Each family’s story is different, and all month long as we celebrate Longest Neighborhood Table 2021, we’re sharing some inspiring, true stories of homeownership! Allow us to introduce you to the 2020 Acts…
Homeownership is Music to Our Ears!
The Homeownership Journey in Song Our goal for Longest Neighborhood Table – Impact Edition was to tell the Acts story as many ways as possible, to connect with as many people as possible. For those who connect to the world through music…today is your day. Over the last year the Acts team has gone digital.…
Building Family Wealth Through Homeownership
Generational Wealth Did you know? The average homeowner has 40 times the household wealth of a renter. Wealth created by homeownership is the single biggest contributor to an increase in net worth across all income groups. And let’s be clear: When we say “wealth,” we aren’t talking about making millionaires or billionaires. We’re simply talking…
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Reviving Milwaukee’s Near West Side
Reclaiming Neighborhoods One House at a Time At the core of the work are the families we serve. Each family’s story is different, and all month long as we celebrate Longest Neighborhood Table 2021, we’re sharing stories of strong, resilient, empowered families. How do you reclaim a property that’s become a burden for an entire…
The Trinidad Family’s Pre-Christmas Miracle
Building Their Own Space https://youtu.be/2Z8Gzfz7O_M At the core of the work are the families we serve. Each family’s story is different, and all month long as we celebrate Longest Neighborhood Table 2021, we’re sharing stories of strong, resilient, empowered families. For many new homeowners, any work that’s done to restore or update their home is…
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Evicted Book Give-Away
Evicted Book Give-Away In what has become required reading around here, the critically acclaimed and award-winning Evicted “follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads,” giving us a greater understanding of poverty, providing ideas for solutions, and reminding us how crucial “home” can be to every other…
The Truth + Acts Housing = Closing the Black Homeownership Gap
Act Right Listen to Dee on MKE In The Morning Behind Acts Homeowners are an incredible team – professionals who care deeply about the families, neighborhoods, and cities they serve. As we celebrate Longest Neighborhood Table 2021, we don’t want you to miss the flavor of the team behind the curtain. Dee Kemp joined the…
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Generational Impact – The Ferguson Family Story
Generational Impact At the core of everything, Acts is all about the families we serve. Each family’s story is different, and all month long as we celebrate Longest Neighborhood Table 2021, we’re sharing some of our favorite stories of strength and empowerment. The Ferguson family isn’t just one of our oldest success stories. (They purchased…
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Milwaukee’s Black Homeownership Gap
Closing the Black Homeownership Gap Did you know: Milwaukee has the second-largest homeownership gap between Black families and White families in the nation? The current 43% difference is larger than it was in 1968, when housing discrimination was legal. And while housing discrimination is technically no longer legal, unfair policies and outright discrimination in the…
Homeowners = Engaged Citizens
Homeowners = Engaged Citizens Something we’ve learned in our 25+ years helping families become homeowners: Empowerment through Homeownership leads to engaged citizens. Statistics show that compared to renters, homeowners are more likely to participate in community organizations, and nearly ¾ of homeowners report voting in local elections compared to only ½ of renters. Home isn’t…
An overheard conversation led Margarita Chavez to Acts Housing
Learn more about Longest Neighborhood Table – Impact Edition and donate today! https://youtu.be/qAr5NYe7FCs Margarita Chavez and her family made their dream a reality At the core of everything Acts does are the families we serve. Each family’s story is different, and all month long as we celebrate Longest Neighborhood Table – Impact Edition, we’ll share…
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What’s the difference between “Where do you live?” and “Where do you stay?”
https://youtu.be/1KBBKiOYp1o We Are the Champions Gwyn and John Beagle have become passionate Acts Housing champions over the last five years. Their primary volunteer and philanthropic attention is focused on organizations that further education and anti-poverty goals, which makes a lot of sense considering their own backgrounds: John is an engineer-turned-co-founder-and-CEO of Investment Bank Grace Matthews,…
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Teamwork made the Dream Work for the Dismukes Family
https://youtu.be/t5YOfBMF5fM Teamwork made the Dream Work for the Dismukes Family When Yuselff and Nakeita Dismukes decided they needed to find a home for their growing family, they turned to Acts Housing. And like so many Acts families, the Dismukes were more than willing to do the hard work that the homebuying process requires. Step 1:…
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Welcome to the Longest Neighborhood Table – Impact Edition
https://youtu.be/LCaZyJKytMI Welcome to the Longest Neighborhood Table – Impact Edition As upside-down as almost every aspect of 2020 was, your belief in Acts Housing never waivered. You transformed Acts’ long-running Longest Neighborhood Table event by bringing it into your own homes and hosting intimate events, both in-person and virtually, for your closest friends and family.…
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Vel R. Phillips- An Extraordinary Life and Legacy
As we kick-off Women’s History Month, Acts Housing celebrates and recognizes Vel R. Phillips, considered a “leader of leaders”, a true champion and advocate for the citizens of Milwaukee. phillips during her early and mid-career years. Including her years as a law student at uw-madison, and as the first female judge in milwaukee. Velvalea Hortense…
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On the first night of Hannukkah…
The Acts Housing team came together (via Zoom…it is 2020 after all) for our annual holiday celebration. There were gifts. There was a gingerbread house contest made possible by Community Action’s Gingerbread Extravaganza. There were the first-annual Acts-y Awards. We were honored to sponsor Community Action of Rock County’s Gingerbread Extravaganza this year, and our…
The Dismukes Family – A Big Surprise For These Four Kids!
You can tell that Yuselff and Nakeita Dismukes are proud homeowners before you even walk into the house. From the seasonal décor on the porch and front door to the tidy lawn and beautiful stone façade, you’d probably be surprised to learn that this home was a foreclosed property that sat vacant for over a…
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Bank Five Nine- Serving the needs of the Unbanked and Underbanked
We are a proud partner of Bank On of Greater Milwaukee. The goal of Bank On is to ensure that everyone has access to safe and affordable financial products and services, and bank accounts that allow them to build savings and access credit over time. Did you know that 22% of American adults (63 million)…
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Antonia’s Journey, A Place to Call her Own
Antonia had always wanted her own place to call home. When her daughter told her about a new non-profit in Beloit that helped people become homeowners, she knew this was her chance! She called the same day! Antonia is a devoted and loving mother and grandmother. Family means everything to her. She has spent the…
The Trinidad Family- Baby Magdalena’s First Christmas!
When Ana Trinidad became pregnant with her fourth child, is when her and her husband Jose, began their rehab project with Acts. Understandably, she was nervous about the timing of taking on such a large project. But she thought, “We’ve wanted this for so long. We just have to go for it. And I’m so…
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The Hernandez Family- Revitalizing Neighborhoods, One House at a Time.
Maria always wanted a big, spacious sun-filled kitchen. She knew she wanted it painted yellow with lots of plants in the window sills to remind her of her native country of Honduras. Her dream kitchen has come true! Maria and Angel had completely given up on buying a home. They had spent the last 8…
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The Ordonez Family- A Mom and Her Boys!
After 17 years of dreaming of owning a home of her own, Yadira Ordoñez almost gave up. Until her brother became an Acts homeowner himself and encouraged her to follow his footsteps. At first, she was nervous and apprehensive. She still felt that it was too good to be true. But today, with tears in…
