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My predecessors at Wisconsin Watch have done some amazing reporting on people experiencing homelessness in Wisconsin.
A big question came up when I started my internship – how can unhoused people get help?
There’s no simple answer. Homeless shelters and nonprofits for low-income families are still extremely limited by resources, available beds and caseworkers. And counties, especially rural ones, simply don’t have enough shelters. Some may not even have a single one.
So when I set out to answer this question, I knew that doing some light research online and making a list of shelters would not be enough. Plus, those lists already exist. At Wisconsin Watch, we spend time thinking about how our stories can fill information gaps and serve our communities.
This resource guide has been many weeks in the making. The process started with going out in the field, talking to people with lived experience, listening in on meetings and watching homeless system leaders do their work.
I asked them: What don’t people understand about homelessness and the network of resources available?
Here’s what I heard about what’s needed:
- A guide that walks people through the process, instead of just a list.
- More information about how the homeless response system works.
- A printed version to distribute widely.
- A resource that clears up misconceptions and stigma around homelessness.
- Information on how to help and get involved in your community.
If you read more, you can get the answers to questions like “How many people are homeless in my region?”
You can also download a flowchart on how to access homelessness resources in northeast Wisconsin. If you want to help, I’d love it if you could share the flowchart online, or print it out and put it somewhere in your community. Let me know if you do.
Still have more questions? I’ll try to answer them. Email me at acode@wisconsinwatch.org.
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Listening shaped our homelessness resource guide for northeast Wisconsin 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.
