The program recently moved to a new location at the Milwaukee County Research Park, which is more than triple the size of its former facility in Greenfield.
The post Wisconsin program treating brain injuries, PTSD for veterans and first responders is expanding appeared first on WPR.
Veterans Day always holds a special place for me. It’s a moment to honor two very special men, my grandfathers, who shaped my life and values and whom I was named after.
My paternal grandfather, Richard Franklin Brown, served in the Marines, and my maternal grandfather, Eugene Preston, served in the Air Force. Every year, this day reminds me that freedom is something precious that we’ve inherited because it was earned, protected and preserved by those who came before us.
Each Veterans Day is a time to pause and think about what they endured and fought for, not only for their families but for the ideals that define our country. It also reminds me how easily those freedoms can fade when we forget the cost of protecting them.
One story that always stands out to me is the Gulf of Tonkin incident of Aug. 2, 1964. That day, the USS Maddox exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, on Aug. 4, reports claimed that a second attack had taken place against U.S. ships. That second attack, as we now know, never happened, yet the reports swayed public opinion and led Congress to pass what became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authority to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war.
That decision marked a major escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, costing millions of lives and reshaping American politics, culture and public trust in institutions. The consequences were especially devastating for young Black men, who were recruited and drafted at disproportionate rates and, in many cases, returned home carrying trauma, addiction and lifelong hardship. It remains one of history’s clearest reminders that misinformation, when left unchallenged, can alter the course of a nation and define generations.
For me, that lesson reinforces the purpose and responsibility of a free and accurate press. Truth and trust are not only journalistic values. They are civic obligations that uphold our democracy and protect our shared future.
Wisconsin Watch takes that responsibility seriously. Our mission is to provide clear, factual and accessible information that helps people navigate their lives and strengthen their communities. Veterans and their families are one of many groups whose needs have informed our journalism. Earlier this year, our newsroom looked at how federal workforce and funding cuts could affect veterans here in Wisconsin, how homeless veterans would be affected by the closure of Klein Hall and whether the state Legislature would take steps to help. And yesterday, we published a list of 12 veteran-related bills that are currently in front of Wisconsin lawmakers.
Much like my grandfathers’ service, our work is guided by endurance, care and the belief that truth matters in even the most trying times.
To all who have served and to everyone who stands for accuracy, transparency and fairness, thank you! Your courage and commitment make freedom a reality and a treasured gift for us all.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
A double legacy: Reflections on my grandfathers’ service and sacrifice 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 than 300,000 veterans who served their country call Wisconsin home.
During the 2025-26 legislative session, state lawmakers from both parties have proposed bills that would extend benefits to veterans, support memorials to wars they fought in and fund programs that help veterans who struggle with housing, mental health and substance abuse following their service.
But one of the biggest debates at the Capitol this session has been funding for the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program, which supports Wisconsin veterans at risk of homelessness. Veterans homes in Chippewa Falls and Green Bay closed in September after the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs did not receive additional funding for the program during the budget process.
Earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed an additional $1.9 million for the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs to fund increasing costs of operating veterans homes. But the Republican budget-writing committee later removed those dollars. GOP lawmakers have argued the WDVA already has funding to cover the costs of the veterans homes in a general appropriation that annually has been underspent, but the department has said the removal of veterans home funding from the budget casts doubt on the legality of using those funds.
Several proposals to fund the veterans homes have been introduced at the Capitol this year, but a solution has not yet made its way to Evers’ desk.
Here are notable bills on veterans issues moving through the legislative process. More legislation could be introduced as the current session continues.
Lead authors: Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken/Rep. Benjamin Franklin, R-De Pere
Summary: The bills would provide $1.95 million over the biennium to support the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program operated by the WDVA. It also requires the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents to fund the Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project and reduces the disability rating threshold for veterans or their surviving spouses to claim property tax credits.
Of note: Evers told Wisconsin Watch in October that he would sign Jacque’s bill if it reaches his desk.
Status: Senate Bill 411 passed the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Veteran and Military Affairs in October. Assembly Bill 428 was introduced in September but has not received a hearing.
Lead author: Franklin
Summary: Assembly Bill 597 would create a state-administered grant program to provide grants to organizations that house homeless veterans through the veterans trust fund. Assembly Bill 596 would provide $1.9 million over the biennium for up to $25 per day for homeless veterans housing organizations. The state funding would complement a federal Veterans Affairs grant program that awards up to $82.73 per day.
Of note: Joey Hoey, the assistant deputy secretary for the WDVA, testified before lawmakers that while the agency supports funding for homeless veterans, the bills would not allow the WDVA to reopen the veterans homes in Green Bay and Chippewa Falls that closed in September.
Status: The bills received public hearings in the Assembly Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs in October.
Lead authors: Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick/Rep. Jodi Emerson, D-Eau Claire
Summary: The bills would provide $1.9 million over the next biennium to cover the increased costs of operating the Veterans Housing and Recovering facilities in Union Grove, Green Bay and Chippewa Falls. They also would help fund the lease of a new facility in Chippewa Falls.
Of note: The bills are the only proposals that provide the funding WDVA says it needs to fund the veterans homes without additional provisions in the legislation.
Status: The bills were introduced and referred to legislative committees.
Lead authors: Sen. Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton/Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa
Summary: The bills would provide an additional $512,900 in the 2025-26 fiscal year and $602,800 during the 2026-27 fiscal year for the WDVA’s Veterans Outreach and Recovery Program, which provides support to veterans with mental health conditions and substance abuse disorders. It also increases the number of full-time positions for the program by seven employees.
Of note: A fiscal estimate states that the seven full-time positions were previously funded through American Rescue Plan dollars, but funding expired in July.
Status: Both bills were introduced this session and referred to legislative committees.
Lead authors: Jacque/Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston
Summary: The bills would require local governments to reduce building permit fees by 75% or $500 if the permit is for improvements to the home of a disabled veteran and are necessary to accommodate their disability.
Of note: Paul Fisk, the legislative chair of the American Legion Department of Wisconsin, testified in support of the bill in April but noted Wisconsin’s proposal would be more restrictive than an Illinois proposal that became law in January. The Illinois law entirely waives permit fees for disabled veterans.
Status: The Senate version of the bill passed the Committee on Natural Resources, Veteran and Military Affairs in May. The Assembly bill was introduced and referred to a legislative committee.
Lead authors: Smith/Rep. Christian Phelps, D-Eau Claire
Summary: The bills would allow a person to claim both the farmland preservation tax credit and the property tax credit for veterans and their surviving spouses in the same tax year.
Of note: A fiscal estimate for the bill indicates allowing Wisconsinites to claim both credits would reduce tax revenues by about $160,000 per year starting in the 2026 fiscal year.
Status: Both bills were introduced and referred to legislative committees.
Lead authors: Sen. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim, D-Appleton/Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse
Summary: The bills would remove the funding cap for the Wisconsin GI Bill, which provides full tuition and fee remission to eligible veterans and their dependents at UW system schools and technical college districts.
Of note: In an October press release, Dassler-Alfheim said Wisconsin only covered 15% of the total costs for individuals attending a tech school and less for those attending a public university.
Status: Both bills were introduced in October and referred to legislative committees.
Lead authors: Jacque/Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Hortonville
Summary: The bills eliminate five-year residency restrictions in current law that specify when a veteran or surviving spouse or child can be eligible for tuition and fee remission for UW system schools and technical colleges. Under the bills, people can get tuition and fees waived as long as they indicate they are Wisconsin residents immediately before registering at a school.
Of note: Representatives of the UW system and Wisconsin technical colleges testified that legislative appropriations are not covering the rising costs of remissions at their institutions.
Status: The Senate version of the bill passed the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges in October. The Assembly bill was introduced and referred to a legislative committee in February.
Lead authors: Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto/Rep. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewoc
Summary: The bills would create a continuing appropriation at a total of $9 million within the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs designated to support the preservation of the Milwaukee War Memorial Center.
Of note: Annual maintenance costs for inside the 67-year-old memorial exceed $800,000, members of the war memorial’s board of trustees wrote to lawmakers in April.
Status: The Assembly bill unanimously passed the Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs in June but hasn’t been scheduled for an Assembly vote. The Senate bill was introduced in May and referred to a legislative committee.
Lead authors: Jacque/Murphy
Summary: The bills would expand the definition of veterans in Wisconsin to include people who served in Special Guerrilla Units operating in Laos during the Vietnam War and were naturalized under the Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act of 2000. It would not include admission to state veterans homes or burial in a veterans cemetery. Those are subject to federal laws.
Of note: In January testimony, Jacque said that there are as many as 1,000 Hmong veterans in Wisconsin.
Status: The Senate bill passed the chamber in May. The Assembly bill passed the Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs but has not been scheduled for a floor vote.
Lead authors: Jacque/Franklin
Summary: The bills would change the definition of veteran to allow former members of the U.S. Army reserves or the National Guard to indicate their veteran status on their driver’s license or identification card. Current law does not allow veterans of the reserves or the National Guard to include that status on licenses.
Of note: A fiscal estimate for the bill from the WDVA states that license applicants who want their veteran status on their identification must provide verification of their eligibility to the agency or a county veterans service officer. The agency processes 6,000 to 7,000 veteran status forms each year.
Status: Both bills were introduced and referred to legislative committees.
Lead author: Smith
Summary: The bill would allow disabled veterans with an up-to-date deer hunting license to hunt deer of either sex during any open firearm season, which is currently only available to active members of the U.S. military who are on furlough or leave in Wisconsin.
Of note: A fiscal estimate for the bill suggests about 5,947 gun deer licenses sold by the Department of Natural Resources in the 2025 fiscal year were purchased by disabled veterans.
Status: The bill was introduced in October and referred to a legislative committee.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
As Wisconsin celebrates Veterans Day, lawmakers are considering these 12 veteran-related bills 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 bill with bipartisan support scheduled for a committee vote on Tuesday could restore funding for Wisconsin veterans homes in Green Bay and Chippewa Falls that closed in September due to funding cuts in the 2025-27 state budget.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers told Wisconsin Watch he would sign the Republican-sponsored bill, even though it includes additional items that are not part of a Democratic “clean” proposal that only funds the veterans homes. But it’s unclear if the bill will pass the Republican-controlled Assembly.
Senate Bill 411, from Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, would provide the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs $1.95 million over the biennium to increase funding for the costs of running the agency’s Veterans Housing and Recovery Program, which supports veterans at risk of homelessness. The dollars would also cover costs for leasing a new facility in Chippewa Falls. Klein Hall, which housed VHRP veterans there, was nearly 50 years old and needed repairs, staff told Wisconsin Watch this summer.
Veterans organizations, Republicans and Democrats spoke in favor of the bill at a public hearing in September, and no one spoke against it. The bill also requires the Universities of Wisconsin System Board of Regents to fund the Missing-in-Action Recovery and Identification Project and reduces the disability rating threshold for veterans or their surviving spouses to claim property tax credits.
But the bill’s path beyond Tuesday’s executive session vote in the Senate’s Committee on Natural Resources, Veteran and Military Affairs, which Jacque leads, remains unclear at this point.
Even if Jacque’s bill makes it to Evers’ desk for his signature, it would still take “a few months” to reopen the Green Bay facility and at least a year for a site to reopen in Chippewa Falls, said Colleen Flaherty, a spokesperson for the WDVA. The Chippewa Falls timeline is longer because the WDVA would have to apply for a new round of federal grants, Flaherty said.
Still, Jacque said in a statement to Wisconsin Watch that he was “heartened” by the support for SB 411 so far.
“I look forward to continuing discussions with the Department of Veterans Affairs and fellow committee members to get this legislation to the governor as quickly as possible,” he said.
SB 411 is one of several legislative proposals brought forward after the state’s two-year budget passed without additional funds to cover the rising costs of running veterans homes across the state.
Evers originally proposed $1.9 million in new funding for the low-cost housing option, but the Legislature’s Republican-led budget writing committee removed those dollars during the legislative process.
Political finger-pointing followed as the state prepared to close the Green Bay and Chippewa Falls facilities. Evers placed the blame on the Republicans in the Legislature. Republican lawmakers, such as Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, argued Evers and the WDVA already had funding to keep the veterans homes open.
According to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the WDVA receives an appropriation for “general program administration,” which has been underspent its funding by $600,000 to $2 million in each of the last six fiscal years. The agency has broad enough stipulations that it could use extra funds to support the veterans housing program.
But it’s possible the WDVA believes the Legislature did not intend to continue to support the veterans homes when it did not approve the specific funding proposed during the budget process, the LFB said. Flaherty, with the WDVA, said the agency “needs legislative approval for the funding.”
Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said the governor is “hopeful” the Legislature will “work quickly” and pass SB 411 in its current form, which he would sign into law.
“While it’s great to see that Republicans have now decided they support Gov. Evers’ budget requests, it’s disappointing they chose not to approve these investments months ago when they had the chance, which could have prevented two facilities serving homeless veterans from closing,” Cudaback said.
Wimberger, in a statement to Wisconsin Watch, continued to place the blame on Evers.
“I’m not opposed to Senator Jacque’s bill,” Wimberger said. “However, Governor Evers is extorting the Legislature since the program already has funding. If paying twice makes Governor Evers stop sending veterans out on the streets, maybe we do that.”
Should SB 411 move beyond the Senate’s committee, it would then go to the full Senate for consideration. The chamber has not met since early July.
It’s also unclear how far SB 411 would go in the Assembly. State Rep. William Penterman, R-Hustisford, who leads the Assembly Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs, did not respond to questions from Wisconsin Watch on if he would hold a hearing on Jacque’s bill.
Two Assembly bills that also seek to restore veterans home funding, one from Democrats and another from Republicans, have not received any public hearings yet. Nor has another Senate Democratic-sponsored bill, which would only provide funding for veterans homes.
In the meantime, the WDVA found new placements for all of the veterans who previously called the Green Bay and Chippewa Falls sites home. The last veteran left Chippewa Falls on Sept. 9 and Green Bay on Sept. 12, Flaherty said.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Can Wisconsin’s split government pass a bill to support homeless veterans? 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.
Air Force veteran Blake Haynes faced an impossible choice during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic: pay rent or buy insulin. He couldn’t afford both. One month, he chose rent. His blood sugar spiked, sending him into cardiac arrest. Clinically dead for 10 minutes, he was revived by doctors, only to see him fall into a coma.
When he woke up almost three weeks later, Haynes said, everything changed for him physically and mentally. He couldn’t work. He faced eviction. He could no longer stay with his kids.
“I was going to end it all,” he said.
Eventually a nurse connected him with Veterans Outreach and Recovery. That led him to Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls, which provides housing, job training and recovery services to veterans. During his year and a half there, Haynes stayed on track with medical appointments and found direction in his life.
Two years after leaving Klein Hall, Haynes lives a new reality. He’s renting a home, leasing a new car, staying out of the hospital for diabetes issues and pursuing a nursing degree. Most importantly, he’s back with his kids.
“I have a life,” Haynes told Wisconsin Watch.
But Klein Hall, which has helped some 1,000 veterans rebuild their lives since opening in 2007, is set to close on Sept. 12, displacing more than two dozen residents.
That’s after lawmakers enacted a budget without funds to cover rising costs at veterans homes.
Gov. Tony Evers proposed $1.9 million in new funding for the Veteran Housing and Recovery Program. VHRP supports the veterans homes like Klein Hall as well as facilities in Green Bay — also slated to close — and Union Grove. The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget writing committee rejected the proposal before hashing out the two-year budget Evers signed in July.
Evers, a Democrat, called closures “a direct result of the Legislature’s failure to approve the investments” he proposed.
Some Republicans, in turn, have sought to blame Evers, saying he should have prioritized the veterans homes earlier in the budget process. The lawmakers highlighted other funding they approved for veterans.
Amid the finger pointing, some lawmakers say their colleagues should push politics aside to prevent closures that leave veterans with fewer services. A pair of bills seek to do that, but opinions differ on which offers the best path forward.
Meanwhile, most veterans already moved out of the Chippewa Falls and Green Bay homes, and their closure date is fast approaching.
Klein Hall was a place of recovery for veterans like Haynes who wanted to get their lives back on track. For Army veteran Randy Nelson, it was a chance at stability after years of battling a methamphetamine addiction.
“I feel so lucky by everything I’ve been given, and Klein Hall was a stepping stone for me,” Nelson said.
In February, Nelson completed a two-month chemical dependency program at the St. Cloud Veteran Affairs Medical Center to address his bipolar disorder and substance use. After completing the treatment, he was advised not to return to his trailer in Minneapolis and was directed to Klein Hall, where he could continue his recovery near his daughter.
Beginning in April, Nelson took part in many of the programs that help him manage his anger and remain drug-free. He met regularly with a social worker who helped him schedule medical appointments and drove him to places he needed to go.
When veterans first enter the program, they are evaluated, with two major focus areas being mental health and substance abuse, which affects about 60% to 70% of residents, said Randy Withrow, site director of Klein Hall.
Other programs focus on housing retention and anger management, like the one Nelson joined. Each resident also has an individualized service plan. Case managers work with them on housing, finances and health, but also tailor to more individual needs like job searches or accessing disability benefits.
In their leisure time, veterans often play puzzles and games, read books from the facility’s library or spend time coloring, an activity that Withrow noted can help those with anxiety redirect their focus.
As part of his therapy, one veteran, James Heber, turned to painting to create a mural for the facility. Filled with shades of green and blue, the artwork depicts Chippewa Falls and follows a veteran’s journey at Klein Hall — from military service to homelessness to stability, ending with finding a home of their own.
“It tears me apart that we can’t save this in some way,” Withrow said.
Klein Hall can house 48 veterans. At the time the closure was announced in mid-July, the facility housed just under 30 residents. Now there are just two. Staff worked quickly as soon as news broke to find alternative housing and program options for veterans. Efforts in Green Bay look similar, where the priority is finding veterans the resources and support they need to transition into new places ahead of the closure, said Katrina Currier, site director at the Green Bay facility.
“We’re losing a critical housing program,” she added.
Fortunately, many have found new arrangements and are in the process of moving into those places, the goal being to make sure no veterans are left on the street as the facilities close, Withrow said.
Nelson recently signed a lease for a place in Eau Claire, which he found through HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing. He said he hopes to stay there until he needs assisted living.
Other veterans were relocated to the facility in Union Grove, which is the only of the three VHRP-operated sites that remain open. But the adjustment came quickly.
Marine veteran Derek Aune said the sudden closure “thrust” him and other veterans at Klein Hall “into high gear.”
Aune came to Klein Hall after spending time in and out of jail and institutions. As someone who prefers to take things slow, he said he had no place to go after being released from prison and described Klein Hall as a stable place to land, somewhere he could get back on his feet before planning where to go next.
Instead, he relocated to Union Grove, a facility much farther from the people and hometown he knows. He said the closure forced him to switch medical providers, disrupted his plan to move forward at his own pace and made it harder as someone who deals with depression.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine after a while, but it sucks when you have mental health issues like that, and then you get flung from one thing to another,” Aune said. “It’s not very easy to deal with.”
Navy veteran Rob Lewandowski arrived at Klein Hall in early July, also hoping to better his life with the support of a community of fellow veterans. Just a week later, he learned the facility was shutting down.
Lewandowski spent years recovering from PTSD and maintaining sobriety, and said he was looking for a way to become a “productive member of society” again. He left his apartment in Rice Lake, where he had been isolating, in search of that at Klein Hall.
Instead, Lewandowski found himself at Building 47, a housing facility for veterans in Minneapolis. He said he’s grateful for the sense of community and progress in his housing search he’s found there, but the move had him give up a new job opportunity in Chippewa Falls that he secured right before he had to leave.
“I really, really, really wish that they hadn’t closed. I would still be there. I’d already be working,” Lewandowski said. “I would be that much further along on the way to being self sufficient, which I strive to be and I’ll be there one day.”
Before the closure was announced, the facility just received new mattresses, which still remain bagged in plastic. The next project was to refresh all the furniture.
But with the facility’s remaining days numbered, the priorities have shifted. Staff are focused on placing veterans and preparing to shut down the building.
“Sadly, every day we come to work, we’re here to shut the program down,” Withrow said.
Still, some advocates haven’t given up on saving the program. The funding that was cut from the budget was intended to lease a new building for Klein Hall residents, due to the aging condition of the nearly 50-year-old facility. Withrow said the building’s biggest issues are the roof and air conditioning system, along with other plumbing problems. The main concern, he noted, is that these repairs tend to be expensive.
Jerry Green, a veteran with 40 years of experience in real estate development, said the building is so outdated that repairing it to code standards would likely cost more than leasing a new space. He works for Goldridge Companies, a real estate firm based in Eau Claire, and explained that the plan was to use the proposed budget funding to lease a new facility in Altoona, close to transit, restaurants and pharmacies.
There would be no construction cost to the state, Green said, only the cost of leasing the replacement building for Klein Hall. He pointed to the need to save the program, noting that a number of veterans die by suicide due to their struggles. In 2023, Wisconsin Department of Health Services data showed that while veterans make up about 6% of Wisconsin’s adult population, they accounted for 15% of adult suicides.
“(Klein Hall) gets the veterans back on course, and helps them get employment and straighten out their lives, mostly to save their life,” Green said.
It’s just a matter of coming up with the funds to pay for it, but legislators remain divided on who is to blame and how to move forward.
Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, spoke to veterans in Howard last week, blaming Evers for the planned closures. He argued that the governor and Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs had enough funding to keep the facilities open.
WDVA Assistant Deputy Secretary Joey Hoey pushed back on the claims, saying the department can’t freely spend its funds. Costs from Lutheran Social Services, the nonprofit managing the facilities, rose about 30%, he said — more than the department could cover without additional state funding.
The VHRP facilities operate under two grant and per diem awards from the Federal VA: one for Chippewa Falls, and another for Green Bay and Union Grove. Hoey told Wisconsin Watch the department could not renew the grant for Chippewa Falls without the extra funding from the state.
In the renewal application for the other two facilities, WDVA reduced the total number of beds from 57 to 40 to reflect the closure of the Green Bay facility. Hoey said there were beds available at Union Grove to accommodate those displaced by closures.
After Evers’ funding proposal was rejected by the joint finance committee, Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick, and several other Senate Democrats introduced an amendment on the Senate floor to fund the programs. But it was voted down by all but one Republican on the committee.
Budget committee co-chair Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, told Wisconsin Watch in a statement that the Legislature invested in veterans’ programs in the state budget. The budget included a 15% increase to VHRP, $5 million to support the state’s veterans homes and $2.5 million for the Veterans Community Project, with additional funding to county-level services.
However, Born did not address the decision to exclude funding for the facilities set to close or outline any future plans to address those closures.
In response to the lack of funding for the facilities, Smith introduced a standalone bill aimed at keeping both Klein Hall and the facility in Green Bay open before their scheduled closure deadline.
Smith hopes that a floor session expected in September could address this issue, but it is ultimately up to the Republican leadership to decide what gets discussed and whether the bill moves forward. Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, cosponsored the bill, and told Wisconsin Watch that he would “be honored to vote yes” on the bill once it reaches the Senate floor.
Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, introduced another bill that includes the over $1.9 million to keep the VHRP sites open, along with other veteran-focused initiatives. The legislation aims to also expand the property tax credit for veterans and fund the University of Wisconsin-Madison Recovery Project to help recover and identify remains of Wisconsin service members missing in action.
Jacque told Wisconsin Watch his bill aims to address other important veterans’ issues left out of the final budget, while also providing funds to save Klein Hall. He said “it appears that the governor could still use discretionary funds to keep the facilities open and I encourage him to do so.”
Smith expressed frustration at what he described as a “political cat and mouse game,” rather than simply passing a “clean bill” to ensure veterans have access to critical recovery and housing services.
Hoey believes that if a funding bill passes, the Green Bay facility could reopen relatively quickly. Reopening Chippewa Falls would take longer, as WDVA would have to reapply for the grant, and funds would not be available until Oct. 1, 2026.
For Smith, the solution lies in putting politics aside to do what is right for veterans.
“It is not about Democrat or Republican. This is about people that we owe every available resource to, to be sure that they are able to recover or to have housing,” he said. “We have a program for that, and it’s provided through Klein Hall, it’s provided through the facility in Green Bay, which they are also going to close, and we cannot let that happen, period.”
Withrow reflected on the effect Klein Hall has had on numerous veterans. He recalled one veteran who came in after losing his leg, wheeling himself around in a wheelchair while struggling with addiction and unemployment. Withrow got to see him leave the program. The veteran now has a prosthetic leg and showed Withrow a video of him jogging.
He witnessed another veteran come in with a poor rent history, anger issues and substance abuse. He now owns a home.
“We had residents that come in with nothing and then end up in a place that they’ve always dreamt about being, that (they) didn’t think they could have,” Withrow said.
Nelson, one of the last remaining residents at Klein Hall, moved into his new apartment. He said he’s grateful for the support he received at the facility and that it’s been instrumental in maintaining his sobriety. He didn’t think once about using during his time at the facility.
“It’s a shame that this is shutting down,” he said. “I don’t know where I’d be right now had it not been for here.”
Veterans say Klein Hall gave them a new life. Now it’s set to close. 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.
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