Premio HOME Winner Q&A: VIA CDC (Milwaukee, WI)

In June 2024, the UnidosUS HOME initiative awarded over $1.1 million to the winners of its national competition, Premio HOME, which aims to elevate and invest in organizations finding innovative solutions to America’s housing supply crisis. One of the 19 organizations recognized for their work was Milwaukee-based VIA CDC (VIA). Below you can learn more about VIA’s mission and their groundbreaking approach to building Latino power through homeownership.

Q: What inspired your organization’s founding?

VIA CDC (VIA) was founded in 1995 by the School Sisters of St. Francis with the goal of connecting with neighbors and addressing community needs. Since then, VIA has maintained this core focus and evolved to become a community development organization that cultivates neighborhood well-being through housing, economic development, and grassroots leadership and has since partnered with our neighbors to leverage $50 million in direct neighborhood investment, create 74 quality income-qualified homeownership opportunities, and support 46 new businesses and 148 new jobs throughout our community.

Q: What are the biggest barriers to homeownership in your community? How does that compare to national trends?

After working closely with community members and experts, VIA and our partners observed that Milwaukee is facing a racial homeowners gap, with 55.8% of white households owning their homes compared to just 37.5% of Hispanic/Latino households and 27% of Black/African American households. While this housing issue is rooted in a legacy of racially discriminatory policies and actions that are nationally prevalent, this issue is also due to the fact that Milwaukee is also experiencing lower rates of homeownership. From 2000 to 2015, Milwaukee homeownership decreased by 12%. Additionally, the city’s history of overinvestment in some neighborhoods and underinvestment in others as well has created a significant challenge for our community.

Q: What is your organization’s mission and how do you tailor your approach to the specific needs of the communities you serve?

VIA CDC is a place-based community development organization whose mission is to be a partner in building strong and healthy neighborhoods where all of us can thrive. With a constituency of diverse neighbors that are supermajority Latino, VIA provides bilingual and culturally responsive programming and initiatives that span from affordable housing development and housing preservation and rights education to small business technical assistance and civic engagement and community leadership development.

Q: How has your organization evolved since its founding alongside America’s housing landscape?

A: As a comprehensive community development corporation, VIA employs a holistic approach to achieve our mission of building strong and healthy neighborhoods where all of us can thrive. This evolved to affordable housing development in 2009 in the wake of the economic crisis when we observed the impact of vacant and dilapidated homes on their neighborhoods. Since then, our neighborhoods and the Milwaukee community have seen an affordable housing crisis, with 53.4% of renters being rent-burdened, high eviction rates, and a disproportionate decrease in homeownership among Black and Latino households. VIA addresses these challenges by partnering with other Milwaukee stakeholders to directly develop affordable housing as well as support housing preservation initiatives and advocate for long-term and sustainable city-wide solutions.

Q: What need did you identify in your community that prompted you to apply for Premio HOME?

After focusing on the renovation of vacant and foreclosed homes for many years, VIA recognized the substantial number of vacant lots throughout the city of Milwaukee and the need for entry-level sized homes. We worked with other Milwaukee housing stakeholders to fill this gap through specially designed 1,100 square foot homes to be sold to income-qualified families (those making between $12-15/hour). With many of these homes centered in and around Latino majority neighborhoods and VIA’s affordable housing development work and leadership growing, partnering with a national organization like UnidosUS and the HOME initiative is a natural and exciting progression for our organization.

Q: What opportunities has the Premio HOME grant created to enable your organization to serve your community?

Premio Home will allow our organization to develop new and affordable homes for nine families making below 80% AMI or approximately $12-15/hour, with a specific focus on Early Childhood Educators, a field that is often understaffed and undercompensated. VIA is also enjoying connecting and learning from other leaders and organizations in this area across the country.

Q: What is the most exciting housing innovation on the table today?

Exploring creative ways to develop entry level homes on Milwaukee’s vacant lots has been an exciting and illuminating process for VIA. We have developed a proprietary blueprint for homes that will fit on Milwaukee’s historically narrow vacant lots, which has previously been a barrier for other developers. These blueprints still feel spacious by using techniques, such as lofted ceilings, that are also forward-thinking for growing families by making them development-ready in the basement by including egress windows for future bathrooms and roughed in plumbing for a future bedroom.

Q: What’s next for your organization?

With support and funding from partners like UnidosUS and the Premio HOME award, our organization has expanded our affordable housing development work from three-to-five homes per year to a projected 10 homes per year. VIA has also cemented our role as a leader in Milwaukee’s nonprofit affordable housing development space and our ability to provide leadership and support to other developers, thereby contributing to the city’s affordable housing development ecosystem and overall capacity.