The Walker's Point Development Corporation (WPDC) was founded in 1980 as a non-profit
organization to provide affordable housing and promote neighborhood stabilization and
development in the Walker's Point neighborhood of Milwaukee. The Walker's Point neighborhood
is bounded by the Menominee Valley on the north, Lapham Boulevard on the south, 16th Street
on the west, and 1st Street on the east. To accomplish its goals, the WPDC formed a
Rehabilitation Program to provide housing units for resale and rental units for low-income
residents.
In 1985, WPDC implemented the Housing Counseling Program to assist first-time buyers with
the purchase of both WPDC rehabbed properties and other Walker's Point properties. This
program was organized to provide low-income individuals with accessibility to banks and
their services. Within ten years, these loan counseling services expanded to include the
entire city of Milwaukee, but the principal geographic area served remained central
Milwaukee; this area was the target area of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
Milwaukee's central city housed a growing low-income minority population which included
African American, Latino, and Asian American residents who faced barriers to home ownership.
Most residents rented their homes; it was a WPDC goal to stabilize Milwaukee's neighborhoods
by enabling renters to become first-time homebuyers.
WPDC also created the Economic Development Program, which emphasized retaining existing
jobs, creating new jobs for the area, and promoting retail, commercial, and industrial
activity on the south side of Milwaukee. The program promoted business expansion and new
business development in Walker's Point and the south side. WPDC assisted entrepreneurs with
launching new businesses, as well as helping small and medium-sized businesses to create new
job opportunities. WPDC also revitalized vacant and under-utilized commercial properties in
the Walker's Point area to provide additional incentive for continuing economic
development.
The WPDC's Rehabilitation Program developed low-income housing units for purchase and
long-term rental properties; this program concentrated its efforts in the Walker's Point
neighborhood, unlike the Housing Counseling Program which served the entire CDBG target
area. WPDC's goal was to improve available housing and address any safety and health issues
such as lead and/or asbestos. It was WPDC's commitment to make each unit affordable through
the use of development subsidies and grants, free and safe from unnecessary hazards, ensure
long-term maintenance costs were kept to a minimum, and produce projects that were an asset
to the neighborhood.
The Walker's Point Development Corporation closed in 2001.
