Milwaukee employee buys first home through workplace grant program

MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee homebuyer program is helping workers purchase their first homes as housing costs continue to rise across Wisconsin.

The program, run through Havenwoods Neighborhood Partnership, works with local businesses to offer forgivable grants employees can use toward a down payment. One participating company, Sellars Absorbent Materials, has helped employees buy homes through the initiative over the past two years.

According to the Wisconsin Realtors Association, the average price of a home in Wisconsin is now $362,000, up from $170,000 in 2016. The National Association of Realtors says the average age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40, a record high.

In Milwaukee, 21-year-old Edwin Roman Jr. recently bought a duplex on the city’s south side through the program. Roman works as a machine operator at Sellars.

“I'm really grateful that I get to do these things at a young age,” Roman said. “I know in the future when I get other houses, I will be more experienced.”

Sellars partners with Havenwoods Neighborhood Partnership to offer employees grants of up to $7,500 for a down payment. The company says it has helped three employees purchase homes over the past two years and has 14 more employees currently applying for grants.

“Jobs change lives, and owning a home also changes your life,” said Julie Graverson, chief operations officer at Sellars. “So, from all the management at Sellars, that's the goal. To change lives.”

Havenwoods Neighborhood Partnership said the program is designed to help bring more homeowners to Milwaukee by working directly with employers.

“Any time you add homeowners to a neighborhood that have an investment in the community, they are using the businesses, they are investing in their homes, they are increasing tax revenue for the community and they are becoming responsible members of the community,” said Stephanie Harling of Havenwoods Neighborhood Partnership.

Roman’s father, Edwin Roman Sr., also bought his first home through the program at age 54.

“Seeing my dad getting a house he’s always talking about, getting something to leave us as their family. And now me getting a house and thinking about my family in my future, I don’t know, I don’t have words to explain it,” Roman Jr. said.

Havenwoods currently works with five companies: Sellars, Hentzen Coatings, DaKonte Group, TJM Innovations and HellermannTyton. The organization says the program has helped 25 people buy their first homes, with another 17 in progress.

Milwaukee employee buys first home through workplace grant program

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