The Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council has a 35 year history of fighting for fair housing in Wisconsin. The MMFHC also works on fair lending issues (esp. predatory mortgages) and on mortgage rescue scams.
My involvement with the MMFHC goes back 30 years when I was a tester. A tester is a trained volunteer who tries to rent or buy housing. One tester is white and one is black. The results of their visits are compared and followed up. I have been involved in several ways with the agency since then.
I am impressed with the professionalism and comittment to the goals of the agency. I am impressed with the depth of knowledge of the staff. Anyone who calls the agency gets a quick, true answer to their issue. If it needs follow-up, that person gets the follow-up help. I have a tremendous respect for the professional, thorough, accurate way business is conducted. This is so important if you are really going to be effective in your mission.
The MMFHC works well with other agencies in the state and has formed partnerships to do their joint work more effectively. This has benefited everyone in the state.
The MMFHC has been a partner in several significant lawsuits against large lenders like Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America for their poor practices in lending (among other things). Another lawsuit, partnering with housing agencies in other states, has to do with the way lenders maintain(or don't) the properties they own that are vacant and for sale in different neighborhoods.
Agency staff documented that housing in different neighborhoods was maintained differently. In poor neighborhoods grass was allowed to grow long, snow was not shoveled, broken windows not boarded up, etc. In higher income neighborhoods the physical treatment of housing for sale is dramatically different and the agency is able to prove it.
The MMFHC is helping people with disabilities who are discriminated against in housing. This includes people with mental illness.
As a volunteer for the past 3.5 years here, I work on mortgage rescue scams. I get full support for what I am doing from the agency.
When I retired I could have volunteered anywhere (I was the Milwaukee County Treasurer). I chose to volunteer at the MMFHC because I have seen the good work that this agency has done in Milwaukee and in the entire state. Even after all these years since the Fair Housing Act went into effect (federal level) there is still too much of a need for agencies like the MMFHC.
There is also shrinking funding from government sources for the work that the MMFHC does.
Review from Guidestar