>> All right. Bryna Godar, thank you for spelling it
out for us. >> Thank you.
>> Over one night this week, Wisconsin volunteers fanned
out to find the number of people experiencing
homelessness in what's called a point in time
count. There are some 5000 people without shelter in
the state, and now ten counties in northeast
Wisconsin are scrambling to find places for people to
stay after a nonprofit provider of homeless
services abruptly closed due to bankruptcy, an
organization called the Balance of State Continuum
of Care, which covers 69 counties in Wisconsin, is
rushing in to respond, along with state agencies
and other programs. Balance of State homeless systems
Manager Ryan Graham joins us now. And Ryan, thanks
very much for being here. >> Thank you for having me.
>> So how many people served by the bankrupt
provider of services are at risk of homelessness in
those ten counties? >> Well, you know, I think
there was 134 households that were served in the
homeless housing programs that we were we were able
to maintain housing for. But there's a significant
amount of homeless folks still in that community
that are in need of housing. And, you know, that lack of
services and that closing the closing of that agency
really creates a gap in institutional knowledge. It
creates a gap in process and systems and all the
things that were established there, you know,
in looking for resources and reestablishing that is
going to take a considerable amount of
effort. >> Just, just stepping back
at at the whole picture is the number of people in
Wisconsin experiencing homelessness on the rise?
>> I would say yes. You know, we just did our point
in time count Wednesday. We are in the process of our
post count, meaning we are still up for a week after
our point in time count, and we are still looking to
engage and identify those folks who are connecting
with services. And that week prior to the council,
we can include those folks. And so that the data is not
out yet. But you know, we haven't fixed the housing
problem. We haven't fixed the lack of services
problem. So and affordability of living
just in general has not gotten any better. So yeah,
I do expect the housing problem to increase, not
decrease. >> Because how important is
that kind of point in time count toward understanding
the needs out there? >> It's very important. You
know, it's really our only data point that includes
folks that are we are engaging with that are
sleeping on outside. So unsheltered or places not
meant for habitation, folks that are sheltered, engaged
with housing programs, but also our DV population. And
so while we obviously do not locate everybody who's
experiencing homelessness in that night or the week
prior, we're really comfortable saying it's at
minimum, this is what our homeless problem is, and
it's a good place to see, see trends, right? Because
of the structure and the way that's been set up
consistently for years. It's a really good data
point to look at trends and how homelessness is and how
we're responding to homelessness in Wisconsin.
>> Is there enough state, federal and other funding
to cover resources needed for this work?
>> Not even remotely. We are really working hard to
do as much as we can with pennies of what we need to
do the work, and that takes a collaborative effort. So
we work hard in all of our counties, you know, really
to, to build that collaboration and work
together to try and problem solve and figure out
solutions for people experiencing homelessness.
>> As to federal funding, that point in time, count,
I understand, is used to apply for federal grants
for housing services. What kind of uncertainty in that
federal funding is there right now?
>> Yeah, I mean, I think there's a significant
amount of uncertainty. You know, I think, you know,
looking at the federal Coch program through HUD, you
know, they're looking at making significant changes
away from permanent supportive housing programs
that we know to be effective and moving more
towards transitional, non permanent supportive
housing, permanent supportive housing or
permanent housing efforts. You know, so I think that's
a significant change without protecting the
folks that were already housed in these programs.
And so there's a significant shift that is
going to provide, I think, a lot of housing insecurity
for folks who have who were previously homeless now are
securely housed. And we don't know what that's
going to look like here moving forward. So there's
a lot of uncertainty that a lot of uncertainty that