WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:22.000 Two years ago, we checked in with the mayor of La Crosse, who was painfully confronting 00:22.000 --> 00:28.200 surging numbers of people experiencing homelessness and living in encampments. 00:28.200 --> 00:33.640 In response to the problem, the city, county, and local organizations banded together in 00:33.640 --> 00:37.200 a concerted effort to get people into housing. 00:37.200 --> 00:44.680 The five-year Pathways Home Plan launched in 2024, when 300 people were counted as unhoused 00:44.680 --> 00:45.680 in La Crosse. 00:45.680 --> 00:52.920 Today, that number is under 200, the goal to get to a functional zero homeless population 00:52.920 --> 00:54.840 by 2029. 00:54.840 --> 01:00.240 We're joined now by Jim Dries, the La Crosse County Homeless Response Systems Manager, 01:00.240 --> 01:02.640 and co-lead of Pathways Home. 01:02.640 --> 01:05.240 And thanks very much for being here. 01:05.240 --> 01:06.320 You bet. 01:06.320 --> 01:11.720 So what stands out about how the Pathways Home Plan is moving the needle on homelessness 01:11.720 --> 01:14.240 in La Crosse? 01:14.240 --> 01:21.240 I think we've always had a dozen plus organizations here in nonprofits supporting this community. 01:21.240 --> 01:23.880 What was really critical was just getting alignment. 01:23.880 --> 01:30.480 And so really sharing common information, a by-name list of anyone experiencing homelessness, 01:30.480 --> 01:35.720 easy ways to get into our system, and then weekly coordination, where we have a dozen 01:35.720 --> 01:38.320 plus agencies really working together. 01:38.320 --> 01:43.000 I think just achieving that alignment was really important in terms of making a lot 01:43.000 --> 01:44.160 of progress. 01:44.160 --> 01:49.400 What are the greatest needs and greatest barriers to getting people into housing? 01:50.400 --> 01:54.920 Yeah, one of the things we look at with folks is we want to place them into housing that's 01:54.920 --> 01:56.880 appropriate for their level of need. 01:56.880 --> 02:02.920 So we'll categorize folks that need anywhere from a light need to moderate, which we consider 02:02.920 --> 02:06.040 once a week, intensive, which is daily support. 02:06.040 --> 02:11.200 And really in our system, a lot of our reductions in homelessness count have been with those 02:11.200 --> 02:15.480 light and moderate needs, easier to place, easier to house. 02:15.480 --> 02:19.600 Our biggest challenge right now is folks that have intensive support needs. 02:19.600 --> 02:27.640 So daily support, sometimes overnight monitoring, typically related to mental health trauma, 02:27.640 --> 02:31.920 sometimes substance use, and that's just as shortage in our system. 02:31.920 --> 02:34.560 These tend to be the folks that have been unhoused the longest. 02:34.560 --> 02:36.840 I get categorized as chronically homeless. 02:36.840 --> 02:40.640 And the longer someone's unhoused, the higher their level of need is usually. 02:40.640 --> 02:47.320 And so the Pathways Home Program includes these kind of wraparound services. 02:47.320 --> 02:54.120 Yeah, so really our goal is developing a wide range of housing and a wide range of support 02:54.120 --> 02:55.600 services. 02:55.600 --> 02:59.840 Part of our challenge is a lot of our really good programs helping folks with mental health 02:59.840 --> 03:05.760 substance use, housing stability issues require a level of stability that often the unhoused 03:05.760 --> 03:07.880 population doesn't have. 03:07.880 --> 03:11.520 So we've really extended our outreach into the community. 03:11.520 --> 03:14.880 People don't have to come into our building or into an agency. 03:14.880 --> 03:20.400 We are out almost daily in terms of both general and targeted outreach because it really takes 03:20.400 --> 03:26.000 building trust and connection to help people, you know, get involved in the right programs 03:26.000 --> 03:29.120 that lead them to the appropriate housing. 03:29.120 --> 03:34.440 What does functional zero mean as stated as a goal by 2029? 03:35.440 --> 03:40.920 Yeah, it recognizes that we won't always be able to prevent someone from becoming unhoused. 03:40.920 --> 03:45.320 But when they do, it's critically important that we get them re-housed quickly. 03:45.320 --> 03:49.040 And so there's two measures that we think about with functional zero. 03:49.040 --> 03:54.320 One, that number of unhoused people in our community should be lower than our ability, 03:54.320 --> 03:57.600 our proven ability to house people in a given month. 03:57.600 --> 04:00.320 So right now we're housing about nine people a month. 04:00.320 --> 04:02.800 So we need our count to be under nine. 04:02.800 --> 04:05.800 That would say our system's capable of rehousing them. 04:05.800 --> 04:09.400 And so the target is to rehouse everyone within 30 days. 04:09.400 --> 04:14.240 Well, what kind of success have you had in eliminating people living in winter and camp 04:14.240 --> 04:15.240 months? 04:15.240 --> 04:16.240 Yeah. 04:16.240 --> 04:20.960 So really that's where the city and county collaboration comes in because this is an 04:20.960 --> 04:26.680 issue that affects police, it affects parks, it affects fire department, emergency response, 04:26.680 --> 04:29.400 it affects community services. 04:29.400 --> 04:33.920 So the city of La Crosse created a camping ban, which really became the catalyst for 04:33.920 --> 04:36.800 clearing out encampments. 04:36.800 --> 04:41.360 We are really trying to focus on everyone having a shelter option. 04:41.360 --> 04:45.560 Right now we don't have enough emergency shelter beds on there. 04:45.560 --> 04:50.720 But we do have extra overnight capacity during the winter, recognizing how critical that people 04:50.720 --> 04:54.360 have a place to stay overnight when it's cold. 04:54.360 --> 05:00.400 What are kind of the benchmark goals between now and 2029? 05:00.400 --> 05:04.520 Yeah, it really is reaching functional zero and that's taking our count, which is a little 05:04.520 --> 05:11.480 under 200 right now, down to say under 10 in terms of doing that. 05:11.480 --> 05:16.600 Average duration of homelessness, taking that down to under 30 days up there. 05:16.600 --> 05:21.880 The other thing we had to really adjust in our system was it's not just about getting 05:21.880 --> 05:24.120 folks housed. 05:24.120 --> 05:29.600 Once folks are housed, historically in our system unaddressed issues would lead to evictions 05:29.600 --> 05:32.680 falling behind on rent, other issues there. 05:32.680 --> 05:36.760 And so really we've started this housing stability tracker where when people are moved 05:36.760 --> 05:38.080 in, we're staying connected. 05:38.080 --> 05:39.240 Who's staying connected? 05:39.240 --> 05:41.760 How are we checking in? 05:41.760 --> 05:47.240 And so really that housing stability tracker would say, you know, the best systems in our 05:47.240 --> 05:53.480 country right now are tracking at 70 to 80 percent housing retention after two years. 05:53.480 --> 05:57.360 So it doesn't always work for everyone, but again, we want to place them in places 05:57.360 --> 06:00.600 where they can retain housing, get the support they need. 06:00.600 --> 06:06.440 How fulfilling is it to see this movement toward finding this sustainable or stable housing 06:06.440 --> 06:07.440 for the unhoused? 06:07.440 --> 06:10.400 Yes, it's a mixed bag. 06:10.400 --> 06:14.600 It's hard to celebrate a milestone of going under 200 when you still have people unsheltered 06:14.600 --> 06:16.560 in your community on there. 06:16.560 --> 06:20.680 The team is super dedicated in terms of connecting with people. 06:20.680 --> 06:23.360 So I do think we take success with each move in. 06:23.360 --> 06:28.560 I remind folks all the time that every number we put out there on our dashboard is connected 06:28.560 --> 06:31.040 to a person with a name and a story. 06:31.040 --> 06:35.040 And so we have good days that we celebrate move-ins. 06:35.040 --> 06:39.680 We have tough days where there's a remission or someone lost housing. 06:39.680 --> 06:41.320 And so we try to stay steady. 06:41.320 --> 06:46.840 We see ourselves as the backbone of this system, providing consistent options and resources 06:46.840 --> 06:48.920 for housing and supportive services. 06:49.400 --> 06:50.560 All right, we leave it there. 06:50.560 --> 06:53.840 Jim Dries, La Crosse, thanks so much. 06:53.840 --> 06:54.840 You're welcome. 07:00.440 --> 07:10.640 I do have one other question, and that is, is Pathways Home in La Crosse considered a 07:10.640 --> 07:15.000 model or did you model it off other programs around the country? 07:15.000 --> 07:17.320 Yeah, I think it was a hybrid of that. 07:17.320 --> 07:23.440 So built for zero is a nonprofit that often is looking at best practices on addressing 07:23.440 --> 07:24.680 homelessness. 07:24.680 --> 07:29.120 There were certainly discussions with Milwaukee, Rockford, other places that were further 07:29.120 --> 07:30.640 along in there. 07:30.640 --> 07:35.560 So I would say we looked at evidence-based practices, and probably one thing that stood 07:35.560 --> 07:40.800 out for us, especially for medium-sized community, or let's say La Crosse-sized communities, 07:40.800 --> 07:43.400 is having local government involvement. 07:43.480 --> 07:49.400 I think bigger systems, you see a lot of studies on New York City and Los Angeles, where the 07:49.400 --> 07:54.160 numbers are quite different, and they can host entire departments and nonprofits that 07:54.160 --> 07:56.400 are well-structured for that. 07:56.400 --> 07:57.960 Our collection's a little bit smaller. 07:57.960 --> 08:02.600 So I would say, built for zero and community import, built out the plan. 08:02.600 --> 08:03.600 Great. 08:03.600 --> 08:04.680 So interesting. 08:04.680 --> 08:06.960 And thank you for your time on this. 08:06.960 --> 08:09.320 Oh, thanks for publicizing this. 08:09.320 --> 08:15.120 I think we try to do our best to tell the numbers as they are. 08:15.120 --> 08:18.280 We talk about transparency and accountability on there. 08:18.280 --> 08:21.760 That's the good days and bad days on there. 08:21.760 --> 08:26.080 People maybe sometimes think the number's too high or too low, and it is our best understanding 08:26.080 --> 08:28.320 of a complex dynamic system. 08:28.320 --> 08:29.320 Yeah. 08:29.320 --> 08:30.320 I appreciate that. 08:30.320 --> 08:31.320 All right. 08:31.320 --> 08:32.320 All right. 08:32.320 --> 08:33.320 Thank you. 08:33.320 --> 08:34.320 You too. 08:34.320 --> 08:35.320 Bye-bye. 08:39.320 --> 08:47.080 Happy and great. 09:09.320 --> 09:10.320 Bye-bye.