Housing La Crosse’s homeless: Forum tonight seeking landlords’ help

City hoping landlords will step up to help coalition with, right now, 18 seeking housing.

One challenge in an effort to tackle homelessness in La Crosse is to find places for them to live.

At 7 p.m. tonight, the city holds the first of two forums meant to recruit landlords willing to rent to the homeless. The meeting will take place on the third floor at city hall. The next forum will take place at 10 a.m. June 1 at the same location.

Community development administrator Caroline Gregerson says the city is looking for those willing to help get the homeless off the streets, though those landlords aren’t always easy to find.

“It’s challenging,” Gregerson said, “although we have some great benefits we can offer them.”

Those benefits include rent vouchers, a double security deposit and the first and last month’s rent. 

Every new renter also comes with his or her own case manager, courtesy of the collaborative of groups working on the city’s housing issues.

The collaborative will take as many landlords as it can get.

“There’s certainly not enough rentals available, although we’re hoping there’s at least 18,” Gregerson said.

That number, in particular, is the amount of homeless the collaborative is currently trying to help.

Beyond finding landlords, finding good homes is pretty important, too.

“We are looking for quality apartments,” Gregerson said. “They don’t need to be luxury apartments but something that meets our basic standards.

“To participate, the apartment has to pass a basic housing quality standards test.”