NORTHEAST WISCONSIN – An estimated 1,200 people are homeless in Northeast Wisconsin — and that could be a vast undercount. Nonprofit leaders say shelters are at capacity on a regular basis and a lack of affordable housing is contributing to the problem.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, someone would have to work 112 hours per week at minimum wage to afford a modest 1-bedroom rental home in Wisconsin.
Amid rising costs, Jackie Baumgart, director of youth services for Foundations Health & Wholeness, says rural counties Foundations serves have few homeless shelters.
“We need a shelter or three in every county… If there was somebody to call and get somebody in every time, we could do wonderful work, because it wouldn’t always be in crisis,” Baumgart said.
Experts say there are misconceptions about who counts as homeless and how the homeless response system works. That prevents people from accessing resources and contributes to stigma around homelessness.
To understand how support systems work, how to get help in each county and who counts as homeless, Wisconsin Watch put together a guide of frequently asked questions about homelessness informed by interviews with community leaders in northeast Wisconsin.
How many people are homeless in my region?
Homelessness is measured nationwide by a “point in time” (PIT) count — a snapshot of all the people experiencing homelessness on a single night. The federal government requires this to happen annually in January, but all counties in northeast Wisconsin conduct an additional summer count in July.
During the PIT count in January, volunteers found 560 individuals who were living in shelters or on the street in Brown County.
To count someone as homeless, volunteers must speak to people who seem to be living on the streets to confirm they’re unhoused. Those who are sleeping on the couch of a friend or family member don’t count.
This means many people aren’t included in the count who might be considered homeless, especially in rural areas.
That’s important because the PIT count is indirectly tied to the amount of grant funding designated for each region.
Who is considered homeless?
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, breaks its definition of homelessness into several categories. These categories determine which programs or aid you can apply for.
This includes who most people generally picture when they hear the word “homeless” – anyone who is unsheltered and could be sleeping outside, in a tent or in a car. It also includes people living in a temporary homeless shelter or using hotel vouchers.
This category includes individuals or families who will lose their housing within 14 days of applying for homeless assistance and who lack resources to obtain other permanent housing.
This group includes unaccompanied youth under age 25 or families with children who don’t meet the previous definitions, but still lack permanent or stable housing, which often means living in someone else’s home due to economic hardship. Referred to as being “doubled up,” this could look like someone sleeping on a friend’s couch or staying in another family’s basement. Category 3 can also include youth who are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or campgrounds due to lack of alternative options.
In the 2024-25 school year, over 20,000 students in Wisconsin were homeless, including 15,400 who were “doubled up,” according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Although this category is considered homeless under the federal definition, doubled up students don’t qualify for most federal homeless assistance. Instead, they are supported by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which requires each school district to designate a homeless liaison and provide transportation for students experiencing homelessness.
“A majority of our students experiencing homelessness are living doubled up,” said Kristine Nadolski, state coordinator of Education for Homeless Children and Youth. “It’s a big piece kind of missing in other counts, and I do think that our students are still under-identified.”
Anyone who does not have a residence due to fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence is placed in Category 4. Specific shelters exist solely for domestic violence survivors that provide crisis intervention, counseling, support groups and legal advocacy.
Overall, these four definitions encompass a wide variety of people who aren’t usually included in the broader public perception of homelessness. Eliza Cussen is the community engagement director for Pillars, a shelter and low-income housing agency in Appleton. She said some people might not consider themselves homeless even though they fit one of these definitions.
“If you have moved in with your mom because your landlord raised your rent and you couldn’t swing it, you might not identify as homeless,” Cussen said. “So that can make people really hesitant to call for those services, or think that they are deserving.”
Why do I see more homeless people in cities?
Rural homelessness is usually harder to see. It’s more common for people in rural areas to live out of their cars or doubled up with a family member or friend, especially since there aren’t as many shelters. Lots of people might not even consider themselves homeless if they are sleeping on someone’s couch.
Because rural areas are sprawling, with many people doubled up, homelessness can be harder to count. That means rural coalitions may report lower numbers in the PIT count, which indirectly reduces federal funding.
Rural areas also have fewer resources — like shelters or supportive housing — forcing more people to relocate to Green Bay or other cities.
But the solution isn’t always to move. Shawano Area Matthew 25 Executive Director Kendra Brusewitz said people used to being homeless in Shawano might struggle to adapt to living in a larger city. She sometimes encourages people to relocate, but only if they don’t have any support systems in their community.
“Affordable housing is a challenge everywhere,” Brusewitz said. “So it’s not healthy for anybody to make all these promises, too, of like, ‘Hey, if we just get you to Green Bay, you’ll have all of these opportunities and resources,’ and then they’re in a community that still has the same issues, and then they don’t have supports there either.”
How can people who have housing help?
Many organizations that don’t provide shelter still interact with people experiencing homelessness and can benefit from understanding how the homeless response system works. These organizations can help brainstorm community-wide solutions, said Josh Benti, homeless initiative project director for the Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness.
“Housing is something that affects us all, either housed or unhoused… Our hospitals aren’t homeless providers, but they provide services to those who are experiencing homelessness,” he said. “Our employers hire and employ people who are experiencing homelessness… So, it’s getting all these systems to work and communicate and collaborate better.”
People who want to help can donate if they have disposable income or volunteer with organizations serving people experiencing homelessness. Volunteering can start with contacting a local shelter or attending a coalition meeting.
Even if you can’t donate or volunteer, you can still help fight the stigma surrounding homelessness. Brusewitz said she welcomes tours of the SAM25 shelter for greater community understanding.
“We’re not a big city, but we do have people who are struggling,” Brusewitz said. “The stigma with homelessness, too, of like, ‘Well, they should just get a job,’ or ‘Maybe they should just quit doing drugs or drinking,’ and that’s not always the case.”
Ryan Graham, homeless systems manager for the Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care, said widespread homelessness reflects a broader affordability issue, with many people just one crisis away from losing their housing.
“What you’ll see is we have all these people who just can’t afford basic needs or can’t afford their current housing, and they’re one bad event from becoming street homeless,” Graham said. “If we don’t have any kind of homeless prevention or diversion programming to stop that from happening, you’re just increasing the bottleneck that we have at our crisis response system, which we don’t have enough of already, right? So it’s really a tough environment across the country, but in particular in a lot of our rural counties.”
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here