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>> All right. Bryna Godar,
thank you for spelling it

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out for us.
>> Thank you.

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>> Over one night this week,
Wisconsin volunteers fanned

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out to find the number of
people experiencing

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homelessness in what's
called a point in time

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count. There are some 5000
people without shelter in

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the state, and now ten
counties in northeast

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Wisconsin are scrambling to
find places for people to

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stay after a nonprofit
provider of homeless

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services abruptly closed
due to bankruptcy, an

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organization called the
Balance of State Continuum

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of Care, which covers 69
counties in Wisconsin, is

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rushing in to respond,
along with state agencies

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and other programs. Balance
of State homeless systems

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Manager Ryan Graham joins
us now. And Ryan, thanks

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very much for being here.
>> Thank you for having me.

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>> So how many people
served by the bankrupt

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provider of services are at
risk of homelessness in

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those ten counties?
>> Well, you know, I think

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there was 134 households
that were served in the

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homeless housing programs
that we were we were able

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to maintain housing for.
But there's a significant

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amount of homeless folks
still in that community

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that are in need of housing.
And, you know, that lack of

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services and that closing
the closing of that agency

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really creates a gap in
institutional knowledge. It

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creates a gap in process
and systems and all the

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things that were
established there, you know,

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in looking for resources
and reestablishing that is

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going to take a
considerable amount of

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effort.
>> Just, just stepping back

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at at the whole picture is
the number of people in

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Wisconsin experiencing
homelessness on the rise?

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>> I would say yes. You
know, we just did our point

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in time count Wednesday. We
are in the process of our

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post count, meaning we are
still up for a week after

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our point in time count,
and we are still looking to

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engage and identify those
folks who are connecting

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with services. And that
week prior to the council,

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we can include those folks.
And so that the data is not

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out yet. But you know, we
haven't fixed the housing

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problem. We haven't fixed
the lack of services

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problem. So and
affordability of living

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just in general has not
gotten any better. So yeah,

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I do expect the housing
problem to increase, not

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decrease.
>> Because how important is

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that kind of point in time
count toward understanding

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the needs out there?
>> It's very important. You

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know, it's really our only
data point that includes

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folks that are we are
engaging with that are

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sleeping on outside. So
unsheltered or places not

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meant for habitation, folks
that are sheltered, engaged

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with housing programs, but
also our DV population. And

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so while we obviously do
not locate everybody who's

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experiencing homelessness
in that night or the week

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prior, we're really
comfortable saying it's at

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minimum, this is what our
homeless problem is, and

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it's a good place to see,
see trends, right? Because

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of the structure and the
way that's been set up

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consistently for years.
It's a really good data

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point to look at trends and
how homelessness is and how

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we're responding to
homelessness in Wisconsin.

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>> Is there enough state,
federal and other funding

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to cover resources needed
for this work?

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>> Not even remotely. We
are really working hard to

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do as much as we can with
pennies of what we need to

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do the work, and that takes
a collaborative effort. So

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we work hard in all of our
counties, you know, really

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to, to build that
collaboration and work

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together to try and problem
solve and figure out

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solutions for people
experiencing homelessness.

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>> As to federal funding,
that point in time, count,

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I understand, is used to
apply for federal grants

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for housing services. What
kind of uncertainty in that

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federal funding is there
right now?

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>> Yeah, I mean, I think
there's a significant

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amount of uncertainty. You
know, I think, you know,

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looking at the federal Coch
program through HUD, you

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know, they're looking at
making significant changes

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away from permanent
supportive housing programs

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that we know to be
effective and moving more

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towards transitional, non
permanent supportive

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housing, permanent
supportive housing or

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permanent housing efforts.
You know, so I think that's

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a significant change
without protecting the

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folks that were already
housed in these programs.

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And so there's a
significant shift that is

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going to provide, I think,
a lot of housing insecurity

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for folks who have who were
previously homeless now are

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securely housed. And we
don't know what that's

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going to look like here
moving forward. So there's

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a lot of uncertainty that
a lot of uncertainty that