Milwaukee County leaders are moving to reallocate federal funding to go towards a rental assistance program for homeless people in the community.
The post Milwaukee County committee sends $2.5M to housing for homeless people appeared first on WPR.
On Monday, June 1, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, better known as HUD, released its Notice of Funding Opportunity Continuum of Care Competition for Fiscal Year 2026.
Brown County is part of the Balance of State CoC, the Continuum of Care that makes up the majority of the state outside of Milwaukee, Dane and Racine counties, which have their own CoCs. A Continuum of Care is a regional nonprofit or government entity that helps coordinate and distribute funding to homeless and housing providers.
Homelessness fell 3.1% nationwide based on the January 2025 Point in Time count, according to the 2025 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (Part 1). This trend is seen locally: In Brown County there was an 8% decrease in homelessness from 453 in 2025 to 416 in 2026 on the night of the Point in Time count.
More people than ever before are receiving housing services nationally: 642,451, an increase of 4%, according to the annual report. However, over the course of 2024, 912,807 people entered homelessness for the first time.
Service providers are tasked to meet the needs of an increasingly vulnerable population, including the chronically homeless. Chronic homelessness is defined as an individual with a disability who has been continuously homeless for one year or more or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years where the combined length of time spent homeless on those occasions is at least 12 months. In particular, chronic homelessness continues to be a challenge for CoCs with funding for Permanent Supportive Housing. Organizations nationwide have Permanent Supportive Housing beds available for, at most, 32% of the chronically homeless population, according to the AHAR report. In Brown County nearly 19% of our homeless population meets the chronically homeless designation and 69% have a disability.
HUD has designated $4.04 billion in funding for CoCs to apply for in fiscal year 2026, more than previous HUD notices. However, this notice redirects CoC programming away from Permanent Supportive Housing and toward Transitional Housing programming, with addiction and mental health treatment as an objective for housing services.
In the notice, HUD tells us that “Housing First” programming has failed, pointing to the 27% increase in homelessness since 2013 when “Housing First” was introduced. In that time, funding for “permanent beds” has increased 150.9% and CoC funding has increased 111%.
From 2013 to 2026 rental costs in Wisconsin have increased nearly 78%, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Zillow, with spikes in post-COVID rental markets in midsize Wisconsin cities such as Green Bay and Appleton being hit the hardest.
The minimum wage has not changed in the state of Wisconsin since 2009, and according to data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition this leaves rental options out of reach for many in the state of Wisconsin. In Brown County, an estimated 35% of the population, or 39,000 people, are renters, coalition data shows. This means a minimum wage worker in Brown County needs to work 104 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental.
With direction from the HUD notice, CoCs will need to meet a new set of requirements that are beyond the scope of nonprofit service providers in our community. This includes increasing the wages of program participants and required mental health and addiction treatment. This is not something that can be done at a CoC level alone. Brown County service providers are working diligently to meet the needs of those in our community who are experiencing homelessness by offering opportunities for permanent housing, transitional housing and emergency shelter. They are not built to respond to a stagnant minimum wage, a housing market devoid of options and a mental health epidemic.
The current CoC project is not perfect, but it does not exist in a perfect environment. For Permanent Supportive Housing programs with full funding to succeed, we need to create that. The HUD notice puts the responsibility of making the perfect environment and running the perfect program on the regional housing coalitions, and if you are unable to meet that, too bad.
Housing is the responsibility of our community and the people who live here. This “pay-to-play” model is harmful to our CoCs, community nonprofits and especially harmful to the neighbors they serve.
We don’t fix our current homelessness crisis by punishing the helpers.
We fix the problem by addressing the root causes:
And this is just the start. We need to increase access points for mental health and addiction treatment by expanding public health care; treating these not as the cause of homelessness but as a health crisis.
It’s not an easy pill to swallow, and addressing the root causes will require hard work and time. But we live in a community that cares and has the resources to make an impact by working together and helping our neighbors.
Josh Benti is the homeless initiative project director for the Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness, an initiative of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation that creates pathways to prevent and end homelessness in the region.
Guest commentaries reflect the views of their authors and are independent of the nonpartisan, in-depth reporting produced by Wisconsin Watch’s newsroom staff. Want to join the Wisconversion? See our guidelines for submissions.
Guest opinion: New federal funding guidelines fail to address root causes of homelessness is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
A volunteer records details about a person experiencing homelessness in Salt Lake City on Jan. 30, 2026. There was a slight year-over-year decline in homelessness between 2024 and 2025, according to new federal data. (Photo by Aline Walker for the Utah News Dispatch)
There were fewer homeless people in the United States on a single night in January 2025 than in January 2024, but homelessness increased in 28 states, according to the latest federal count.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development counted 745,652 homeless people in its latest “point-in-time” estimate, down 3% from the year before. The count was conducted before the Trump administration late last year announced a shift away from long-term housing in favor of funding transitional housing with work and addiction treatment requirements.
HUD said the decrease was driven largely by a 4% decline in the number of people in emergency shelter. The number of unsheltered homeless people fell by 3%.
In releasing the new numbers, the Trump administration noted that the overall homeless population has increased 27% since 2013 — proof, it said, that so-called housing first policies that many cities and states have pursued during that time have not been successful.
Among the states, North Carolina saw the largest percentage increase in its homeless population. Its homeless count jumped by 3,886 or 33%, largely because of Hurricane Helene, which displaced thousands of residents in the fall of 2024, prompting the addition of 4,000 emergency shelter beds.
Oregon (up 19%) and Maryland (up 17%) were the only other states that reported increases of more than 15%. Hawaii (down 41%) and Illinois (down 44%) saw the largest percentage decreases.
Nationwide, about 22 of every 10,000 people are homeless on a given night. The state with the highest percentage of homeless people is New York, where 73 out of every 10,000 people are homeless.
One of the big improvements from 2024 to 2025 was a decline in the number of unhoused families with children, which was down 11%.
Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at rsequeira@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
Milwaukee’s homelessness crisis is growing more visible, but advocates say there are still signs of progress.
A few years ago, Milwaukee leaders said the city was on track to end family homelessness. Since then, the number of people who are homeless has grown. Organizations on the front lines and others working on the issue still say Milwaukee has quietly become an example of how coordinated prevention efforts can work during a larger national crisis.
“When we talk about ending family homelessness, it doesn’t mean no family will ever experience homelessness,” said Krystina Kohler, impact manager at United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. “It means we’ve built a system that can respond quickly, prevent homelessness when possible, and rapidly connect families back to stable housing.”
Data collected through the Milwaukee Coalition on Housing and Homelessness shows more people are entering Milwaukee’s homeless service programs than exit it.
The 765 people who entered homeless service programs in 2025 had been without stable housing for an average of 88 days; 77% were homeless for the first time.
Ten percent became homeless again within a year.
According to David Nelson, chair of the Milwaukee Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, the totals include people living in shelters and those sleeping in cars, abandoned buildings or other places not meant for habitation.
“On any given day, we have 750 shelter beds in our city,” Nelson said. “Beginning in November through the end of March, we have an additional approximate 250 shelter beds, which (are) our winter warming rooms.”
Even with the extra capacity, he said beds are almost always full.
Nelson said official homelessness figures fail to capture the full scope of housing instability because many people who temporarily stay with friends or relatives are not counted until those arrangements end.
“What we don’t count (are) people who are doubling up,” he explained. “If you let me stay on your couch through the winter, it’s not counted as homelessness. But the minute you say, ‘You gotta go,’ suddenly I become homeless.”
Sister MacCanon Brown is president and CEO of MacCanon Brown Homeless Sanctuary. She said her organization’s welcome center at 2461 W. Center St., which distributes clothing, food and household necessities and offers showers to people in need, saw 4,600 people in 2025.
Most people leaving homeless service programs have no documented housing destination, making it difficult to know whether they are securing stable housing or eventually returning to homelessness, Nelson said. The percentage of people transitioning into permanent or temporary housing remains mostly unchanged.
Nelson said the end of pandemic-era federal housing assistance contributed to the rise in homelessness.
“During the Biden-Harris administration, we were sheltering people in hotels, and that was paid for by the federal government,” he said. “That funding is no longer there, and so you can see this gradual increase and then the spike in the number of people having to go back to homelessness.”
Other economic pressures are pushing more residents toward instability, especially low-income renters already struggling with rising housing costs.
“The people who are most squeezed are the people who are most vulnerable,” Nelson said. “Those at the lower ends of the economic spectrum are sometimes paying 50% and 60% of their income just to keep an apartment.”
People over 65 are now the fastest-growing age group entering Milwaukee’s homeless services system.
“It’s the fastest growing population in the country,” Nelson said. “If they go on Social Security, they are suddenly on a fixed income. The numbers don’t meet.”
Kohler said senior homelessness is becoming a major concern for local providers.
“Older adults experiencing homelessness for the first time in their lives is something that should never happen in our community,” she said. “They’re often widowed, on fixed incomes and one emergency away from losing housing.”
NNS has reported on housing crises among younger adults and families and seniors recently.
Kohler said she hopes homelessness initiatives expand beyond families to include seniors, single adults and people exiting facilities.
Nelson added that eviction records can trap people in long-term instability.
“The eviction stays on their record for a long time,” Nelson said. “Landlords can use CCAP and see there was a legal proceeding against them. Suddenly they’re charged first, last and middle month’s rent.”
Brown said that many of the housing unstable people she sees were renters.
“The lack of landlord regulation, the evictions and the prices have a lot to do with increased homelessness,” she said. “Some type of landlord regulation is crucial in keeping people housed.”
There have been assumptions by some that homelessness may be tied to migration from outside the city. But nearly everyone enrolled in Milwaukee’s homeless services programs during 2024 and 2025 was from Milwaukee County, according to local data.
Kohler said Milwaukee’s prevention efforts increasingly focus on helping families before they lose housing entirely.
“We’re trying to get ahead of the trauma of homelessness,” she said. “Sometimes a family just needs help with a car repair, utility bill or mediation with a landlord before a housing crisis begins.”
She pointed to partnerships with schools and even animal welfare organizations as part of Milwaukee’s early intervention strategy.
“If a family is surrendering a pet because of housing instability, we can now connect them to services immediately,” Kohler said. “That’s a unique approach here.”
Though homelessness overall has risen, Kohler said Milwaukee has seen family homelessness remain relatively stable, or even decline, compared with many similar cities nationwide.
“Nationwide, family homelessness has increased dramatically, but Milwaukee is one of the only peer cities that has stayed relatively flat or even slightly decreased,” she said. “That’s because of intentional investments in prevention services and rapid rehousing.”
Organizations across the city continue working together through the Milwaukee Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, which includes nonprofits, universities, faith organizations, outreach teams and local government agencies coordinating resources and services.
“We have a really rich and robust system in our city,” Nelson said. “Homelessness is not a choice. It’s not something people choose to be in.”
Kohler said Milwaukee’s coordinated response system has become a model for other communities.
“Right now, there are no families on the literal homelessness list searching for shelter,” she said. “If a family is identified as needing emergency shelter, they should have immediate access to beds.”
She said Milwaukee’s collaborative approach deserves more recognition.
“The providers here are doing amazing work,” Kohler said. “Other communities are reaching out to Milwaukee to model what we’re doing.”
Kohler said Milwaukee’s response shows progress is possible even during a growing national housing crisis.
“Milwaukee is actually an example of success inside a larger crisis,” she said. “There’s still tremendous need, but we’ve shown that prevention and rapid response can work.”
She encouraged residents facing housing instability to seek help early by calling 211 and connecting with local support services before a crisis escalates.
“Keep calling and keep advocating for yourself,” Kohler said. “Sometimes resources open up quickly, and that early connection can prevent homelessness entirely.”
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Milwaukee homelessness rises despite some prevention successes is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
More older residents in Milwaukee are facing homelessness, according to findings from a yearlong study funded through a grant from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment, which included Community Advocates Public Policy Institute and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Community Advocates is a social service agency that provides a number of services, including those related to housing.
Researchers examined why older people are at risk for homelessness and what changes need to be made to keep them housed.
“Older adults used to be stable and now there’s instability,” said Erin Cronn, director of nursing for the City of Milwaukee Health Department.
The study showed that the majority of Milwaukee’s homeless older adults are Black males between 55 and 65, who have a high school diploma or some college.
According to Community Advocates Public Policy Institute and the Medical College of Wisconsin, their homelessness was due to a loss of income, family conflict or health challenges.
Matt Raymond, supportive housing programs director for Community Advocates, said intakes of people 62 and older have doubled and sometimes tripled over the last 10 or so years.
Raymond said that many of the older adults had never been homeless and that accessibility to resources for them can be difficult.
“This is many of their first time experiencing homelessness and having to navigate a system that can be complex and nuanced,” Raymond said.
To help get older adults the housing resources they need, Cronn said, there needs to be a better way of sharing important information.
“A lot of information is disseminated in electronic ways and there’s a lot of isolation, so word of mouth doesn’t always work,” Cronn said.
The study also revealed that many older adults would prefer for all services to be in one place and have better transportation and more places to stay.
Although the study highlighted promising solutions, Emily Kenney, director of strategic initiatives and transformation at the Milwaukee County Department of Health & Human Services, said there’s still no housing system, which is why older adults struggle.
She believes that homeless shelters, housing programs and landlords should be functioning under one system instead of operating separately.
“When you think about the criminal justice system, health or behavioral system, those systems work together with you from beginning to end, but not for housing,” she said.
She said this gap causes a lack in prevention support for older adults and only assists people when they’re already homeless.
“When I was running a coordinated entry system, what I heard all day was people were on the brink of losing their housing and needing resources, and the only solution was to come into a homeless system first,” Kenney said.
Family medicine specialist Dr. William Calawerts said he’s received older patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and other health challenges but can’t help if they don’t have stable housing.
Without a home, older adults can’t take their medicine or attend doctor appointments, which will make them more ill, he said.
“Their health issues are usually extremely complex and serious, but oftentimes we’re not able to address that adequately in the outpatient setting,” he said.
Cronn said health can mean different things to homeless older adults compared with health care professionals.
For older adults, it means having safe housing, clipped nails, ability to wash their hands or having clean and dry clothes, but professionals may see health as traditional doctor visits, he said.
“As a practitioner, it’s hard to prioritize health and the folks we’re seeing because their version of what their needs are is different than what we’re seeing,” Cronn said.
Calawerts said when he’s training medical students about homeless patients, he teaches them to take their time, have compassion and treat them beyond their illness.
“We try to tell them that you’re a human first and a physician second,” Calawerts said. “I think we’ve lost the humanism component in a lot of things we do.”
Kenney raised concerns about housing programs that give out vouchers to help with paying rent but have been a contributing factor to older adult homelessness.
She said developers are using loans to build houses, and the way the loans get paid off is through rent.
“Developers can’t offer rent at a price people need because the tax credits they get aren’t enough,” Kenney said. “The people who get the vouchers have already entered the homeless system.”
As a result, Raymond said some older adults have been moving into permanent supportive housing. These programs help homeless individuals get their own long-term place and additional services to help.
Community Advocates refers some of its intakes to Autumn West Safe Haven, an apartment on Milwaukee’s North Side that gives homeless or mentally ill individuals a place to stay short term until they find stability.
According to Community Advocates, 36 individuals who were homeless or mentally ill received services and housing through Autumn West Safe Haven, while 101 individuals who were chronically homeless and living with a disability received immediate help in 2025.
“Over the last few years at Autumn West Safe Haven, we’ve gone into outreach community centers to offer on-site telepsychiatry care to our residents and established a relationship with Advocate Aurora to bring in their mobile clinic on a monthly basis,” Raymond said.
Overall, community leaders want people to know that existing organizations need to make their population broader and do a better job at synthesizing resources, even though it may take time.
“There’s no reason for Milwaukee not to be at the forefront fighting this nationally,” Kenney said.
Calawerts also mentioned the resilience of older adults, having heard many success stories of them getting through mental health, homelessness, unemployment and other challenges.
“Those stories are the ones that give me hope, and with more robust services that are connected in these spaces, we can see more of those successfully,” Calawerts said.
Health care professionals and leaders want change as more older Milwaukee residents become homeless is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
On the streets of Milwaukee, Carter Wilkins and his mom, Carlicia Wilkins, can be spotted picking up aluminum cans or handing out bagged lunches and hygiene items. They do it as an act of kindness for the homeless and to help grow a new organization called Carter Can Collect Community Initiative Inc.
In March, Carter, 9, founded Carter Can Collect Community Initiative Inc., a nonprofit that focuses on environmental awareness. The organization uses collected aluminum cans to help fund and support individuals experiencing homelessness in Milwaukee.
“I was so happy when I turned in my first bag of cans,” Carter said.
The idea started when Carlicia Wilkins was on a car ride. She was reflecting on the passing of Carter’s dad in 2020 and about experiencing homelessness three years ago and sleeping in her car.
“This is our reality five years later, and I wanted to figure out how I can continue to make Carter’s life better,” Carlicia said. “He’s a gamer and asks for (Fortnite) V-Bucks, so I figured I could teach him responsibility and how to make his own money while gaining a purpose because it’s not about the money for us.”
Carlicia wanted to show Carter how to use the money to help others.
According to the Milwaukee Coalition on Housing & Homelessness, about 885 Milwaukeeans were experiencing homelessness in 2024.
“Homelessness can be on the street, sleeping on somebody else’s couch, living in someone’s basement or living out of your car,” Carlicia said. “If you are somewhere that’s not yours, then that’s homelessness.”
After discussing the idea with Carter, he wanted to get started as soon as possible.
Carter, a Sherman Park resident, typically spends an hour after school collecting aluminum cans from sparkling water, energy drinks, beer and more while his mom pays him $10 an hour out of her own pocket.
“We pick a block and go around neighborhoods,” Carter said.
Once a month Carter and his mom take the collected cans to All Scrap Metal Recycling Inc., 3330 W. Fond du Lac Ave., to recycle them for cash.
“Everything that we need is already around us,” Carlicia said. “We throw things away when it could really bring financial gain.”
Carter said he recently made $73 after filling five bags of aluminum cans in one month. The bags weighed 90 pounds.
“My goal was about 60 pounds of cans at first,” he said.
Once he receives the cash, Carter goes to local stores to pick up food and hygiene items to make care kits and cold bag lunches for the homeless.
The kits typically include dental products, socks, wet wipes, deodorant, hair care, towels and soap.
The lunches include water, fruit, a snack and sandwich.
At the beginning of April, Carter and Carlicia gave away 25 bag lunches and 20 care kits to the homeless across Milwaukee’s North and South Sides.
“I was nervous at first when I did my first aluminum can turn-in, but the more I started collecting, then I got more comfortable,” Carter said.
Dier Vaughn, a family friend who volunteers to help the organization, said he’s never seen a duo like Carter and his mom come up with a concept like this.
“You don’t see many young kids who are motivated to give back to their own community,” Vaughn said.
From picking out the organization’s name to shopping for essentials, Vaughn has witnessed the process since day one.
“I really love how Carter and Carlicia actually go out to talk to people to see what they want and need instead of buying what they think people need,” he said.
Vaughn said Carter has qualities of a community activist and always has a willingness to listen and show empathy.
Carlicia describes Carter as a go-getter since she’s been giving him the space to lead with the initiative.
“He’s getting better at telling other youth about his initiative,” Carlicia said. “I’m learning to let him be a kid and have a voice with entrepreneurship at the same time.”
The initiative was meant to teach Carter and other youths about work ethic, financial literacy, communication skills, responsibility and more.
For youths eager to make a difference in their community but are unsure of where to start, Carter said the first step is being open to trying new things.
“You don’t have to try everything, but at least try one thing,” he said.
Carter and Carlicia said their long-term goal is to find more youths ages 9 through 14 to help Carter on his mission.
“Carter’s big cousins joined him and were so excited that they couldn’t stop,” Carlicia said.
Youths who join him will receive a reward like monetary pay or get treated to a social outing like roller skating, Chuck E. Cheese and more.
The next volunteer opportunity for youths to help Carter and Carlicia is 4 p.m. Friday, April 24. The youths can crush cans before they turn them in at the scrapyard.
Also, Carter Can Collect Community Initiative Inc. is in need of board members, sponsors and community leaders.
“We’re looking for people and local leaders who may know more about homelessness and can possibly give us more information,” Carlicia said.
Other ways residents can help Carter and Carlicia is by donating hygiene products and food or by saving aluminum cans at your home that they will come pick up.
Items can be sent to Carter Can Collect Community Initiative Inc., P.O. Box 90104, Milwaukee, WI 53209
To get involved or for any questions, you can reach Carlicia at 414-506-2523 or email community@cartercancollect.com.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Meet a Milwaukee kid turning aluminum cans into cash to help the homeless is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
A northeast Wisconsin anti-poverty nonprofit plans to close later this year amid serious financial challenges and the loss of a government contract.
For more than 50 years, Newcap has operated in 10 counties. It serves low-income residents and is funded primarily through state and federal grants.
The agency served more than 25,000 people in 2022. Its programs range from employment and job training to educational support, financial coaching, health and food assistance, housing services, home repair and case management, according to an annual report.
Housing advocates say Newcap’s closure could lead to northeast Wisconsin losing more than $2.7 million in federal funding and leave more than 100 households at risk of losing housing.
In a statement, Newcap interim Executive Director Deb Barlament said the organization has faced “significant financial challenges” in recent months and has implemented staffing reductions and other cost-saving measures in response.
“At this time, the organization anticipates closing its doors sometime this year,” Barlament stated. “A more specific timeline will be determined as we work through existing grant obligations and funder requirements.”
Barlament’s statement says the organization hopes to “responsibly wind down operations” and is “actively collaborating with other organizations and funders to help ensure that services continue to be available to the communities we serve.”
It comes after a 2025 financial audit by accounting firm Baker Tilly found the organization had a more than $2 million deficit in 2024. The audit raised “substantial doubt about the Organization’s ability to continue operating,” citing recurring deficits, negative cash flow and reduced liquidity.
The state is conducting “enhanced financial monitoring” of the nonprofit, which includes comprehensive financial and program reviews, as well as reviews of financial documentation.
In a statement, the Wisconsin Department of Administration said the state has been working with Newcap to address its use and repayment of Weatherization Assistance Program funds for the 2025-26 program year. The program provides home weatherization assistance to low-income individuals.
The audit shows that in 2024 Newcap spent about $5.1 million for weatherization programs.
“Approximately 28% and 26% of the Organization’s grants revenue and grants receivable, respectively, were generated by weatherization and emergency furnace programs funded by the Wisconsin Department of Administration,” the audit states.
On March 13, the DOA informed Newcap that it “could not in good faith” renew the nonprofit’s weatherization contract for the next program year “given the current financial situation at Newcap and outstanding funds the agency must repay,” according to the statement.
The statement does not specify why the agency needs to repay the funds, or the specific dollar amount of that repayment.
“Working with our federal partners to administer grant programs requires DOA to assess potential risks of grantees,” the statement read. “Though Newcap has recently taken steps to address overhead costs and operating cash flow, Newcap’s financial viability remains uncertain.”
The Department of Administration says it is working with Wiscap, a statewide network of anti-poverty nonprofits, and other agencies to ensure services continue to be provided in northeast Wisconsin.
Wiscap did not respond to requests for comment about what happens when a Community Action Program, or CAP, agency — like Newcap — closes.
Carrie Poser is executive director of the Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care, a nonprofit that coordinates housing and supportive services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness across 69 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.
She said Newcap administers four U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants, which provide support services to 134 households across its 10-county service area, with 84 of those in Brown County.
Poser said local service groups want to take over those federal housing grants. But she said HUD officials in Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., have told her they are not processing grant transfers.
That puts the 134 households currently using those programs at risk of losing their housing and becoming homeless, she said.
“We have humans that, for no fault of their own, look at returning to homelessness that we can prevent,” she said. “It’s not because we don’t have agencies. It’s not because we don’t have the ability to do the work.”
If those grants aren’t transferred, she said more than $2.7 million — including more than $1.6 million in federal funding to Brown County — could be permanently lost from the 10 counties Newcap serves.
“It will be harder for those communities to ever get new money in this way again,” Poser said. “It’s just harder to get a grant once you’ve lost one by HUD.”
She said Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care plans to move forward with filing paperwork with the federal government necessary to transfer the grants, but she isn’t sure if the effort will be successful.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development did not respond to questions about the potential loss of federal funding to northeast Wisconsin.
Laurie Styron is executive director of CharityWatch, a Chicago-based independent charity watchdog. She said Newcap serves a large geographic area, so its closure is likely to put more strain on other area nonprofits and agencies that provide similar services.
“Help that someone in need may have received from Newcap could become fragmented and require people who are already struggling to seek out services from different agencies, rather than just one,” she said. “The remaining providers in the area could see longer wait lists and reduced quality of care.”
Newcap is also closing three year-round homeless shelters, two in Green Bay and one in Shawano, by March 31, Barlament said via email.
Tara Prahl is chair of the Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition and director of social services for the nonprofit Ecumenical Partnership for Housing. She said Newcap’s closure, including the loss of two homeless shelters in Green Bay, could have “a significant impact to our community,” especially if the government funding Newcap was receiving doesn’t remain in the area.
“All of our homeless service providers are at capacity,” she said. “This is only going to hit a little bit harder for those that are already feeling this.”
Prahl also said Newcap’s closure makes it more important for the Brown County community to take steps to address homelessness and its housing shortage.
In Shawano, Newcap provided one of only two homeless shelters in the community. Shawano Area Matthew 25, or Sam25, provided the other.
Kendra Brusewitz, executive director of Sam25, said her shelter is only open from mid-October to mid-May as an overnight emergency shelter. She also said Sam25 has often partnered with Newcap.
“They help service the homeless families in our community year-round, so if we were full we could connect with them and get (people) services over there, or vice versa,” Brusewitz said. “Not having that partnership is a concern.”
Newcap’s announced closure also comes after the organization placed its former CEO Cheryl Detrick on administrative leave in February.
A Newcap official confirmed via email that Detrick is no longer employed by the organization. Of the 15 CAP agencies in Wisconsin with executive salaries listed in tax filings, Detrick had the highest compensation at $239,641 in 2024.
Detrick was placed on leave amid reports from WLUK-TV alleging the organization misused taxpayer dollars.
Two Democratic Green Bay-area state lawmakers issued statements last month calling for an investigation into the organization’s use of taxpayer funds.
In Barlament’s statement, she said Newcap is aware of “questions regarding accountability for what has occurred” at the nonprofit. She said the organization is “committed to doing everything we can to address the situation and move forward responsibly.”
U.S. Reps. Tony Wied, R-De Pere, and Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, sent a letter on March 12 to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calling for a federal investigation into Newcap.
“Money that should have gone towards helping Wisconsinites find safe and stable housing may have instead padded executive salaries and funded staff outings,” the federal lawmakers wrote.
Poser said she’s contacted Wied and Steil’s offices for help getting HUD funding transferred from Newcap to different nonprofits but has not received a response.
She said she’s reached out to the rest of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation for assistance in persuading HUD to allow for the transfers.
“We absolutely need a nonpartisan show of support around this issue,” she said. “Folks in need are in need regardless of what political party they belong to.”
This story was originally published by WPR.
Nonprofit closure could cost northeast Wisconsin $2.7M, put 134 households at risk is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
Login