West Samaria Rooming House Contests Foreclosure

March 5th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosure

WHEDA or The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority has brought foreclosure charges against non-profit Tri-Corp. Housing Inc. a rooming house in West Samaria that cares for mentally ill and abused patient last November. The allegation is that this agency has failed in repaying $1.275 million mortgage loan. Payments discontinued from July 2007. The foreclosure decision was taken after a meeting with WHEDA, representatives from the industry and others. It was elected that for the best interests of the residents this 92 bed facility on Richardson Place should be closed.

Last March West Samaria was declared closed after the decomposed body of Joseph Droese was found in a locked room. It was only on the insistence of the mother of the deceased that the room was unlocked. In July 54 year old David Rutledge, a veteran from Vietnam, suffering from schizophrenia was beaten to death outside the premises of West Samaria. His family sued Tri-Corp. for the negligence. The executive director of the group tried to explain that an unusual number of vacancies during summer had led to their financial woes and that they would soon be able to catch up and come current. The attorneys for Tri-Corp. stated that the agency was selling other properties to make amends but WHEDA was refusing to consider this, acting in collusion with Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman who does not want this region to be spotted with a home for the mentally challenged. Since the autumn of 2005 Bauman has been continually pestering Tri-Corp. and had repeatedly tried to influence the Board of Zoning Appeals to close the facility. He had not so far succeeded.

Bauman defended himself by saying these charges are made to blacken his public image. He had always been clear about his stand in several public forums that the continuation of such an institution is not conducive to the health, well being and safety of the clients of the institution. If the charges against him were true then how is it that he positively worked for the setting up Heartland Housing on Highland Avenue? Bauman encouraged WHEDA for standing up against Tri-Corp and its nefarious schemes of benefiting from the miseries of others.

When foreclosure was declared there were 79 inmates – most of them having been referred to by the Behavioral Health Division of the County. 29 have been shifted to other places and another six will soon follow.