Family & Home
City, county leaders hold joint meeting in La Crosse to work on common responses to local homelessness
A public hearing at La Crosse’s city hall Tuesday to discuss plans in how to help with the local homeless population.
Area leaders at the meeting said they are crafting a five-year plan to put into place by next year help the unsheltered with the likely starting point being getting those people housing without conditions and connecting them with case workers.
La Crosse Homeless Coordinator Brian Sampson and La Crosse County Human Services director, Isaac Hoffman, will be on La Crosse Talk PM at 5:05 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the homeless situation further. Listen on the WIZM app, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska).
Gathered in the city council chambers were around 80 people, along with others watching online.
Around 80 people are living on the streets in the La Crosse area. Brian Sampson, the city’s homelessness coordinator, said the economic impact of having this many unsheltered people in this community exceeds $3 million a year.
Sampson said one goal is to get the homeless population down to what’s called Functional Zero.
“If an individual or household is experiencing homelessness, it’ll be rare, brief and nonrecurring,” Sampson said, defining Functional Zero. “In other words, our homelessness response system will be able to help get more people into housing every month, than people coming into our system.”
La Crosse County traditionally has not been involved in discussions of homelessness. County administrator Jane Klekamp suggested nobody really asked them to take part.
“Historically, I’m just gonna say, no one cared if we were at the table, because it was manageable,” Klekamp told city council and county board members, along with audience members. “It’s now that it is unmanageable, that we are gonna be at the table.”
La Crosse County’s human services director, Jason Witt, said the city and county are working on a unified approach.
“For example, a community like ours may decide that addressing the number of unsheltered individuals is the immediate priority,” Witt said. “And then make sure that staffing and funding across the entire system is working in mutually supportive ways to support that priority.”
Sampson said about 288 people are classified as unsheltered to where they need services, with about 80 actually living outdoors in La Crosse at this time — noting that most don’t like being in that situation.
“That’s one of my observations, going out with the outreach team,” Sampson said, “is the community and public aren’t happy with people sleeping in parks, and people sleeping in parks aren’t happy they’re sleeping in parks.”
john
June 7, 2023 at 10:25 am
Give the homeless a decision, do they want help! Or not? The ones that want help need to be on a strict plan! Recourced, for getting off drugs and alcohol, with daily testing! 2nd recourced on getting work and maintaining a job! 3rd, resourced help on finding a place to live. 4th, paying rent on time!
For the ones that do want help, arrest them. Especially if they are doing drugs and drinking in public. High bail, so they can detox. Then give one more chance at wanting help!
If they violate any of the conditions and they are not from La Crosse, take them back to where they are from! If they have any drugs on them, put them in jail again with high bail! Need to do something about all the needles that are left all over the place! Get strict about tents, having a fire, or sleeping in the park! Kid gloves need t9 be taken off!
If they don’t want mental health help, or any help from the resources that are available to them, then they need to be removed! Tax payers should not have to pay for these people!
I believe in giving help and chances! But not to one’s that don’t want it, and continue to be a menace to the community!
R head
June 7, 2023 at 11:41 am
All the talking head in one place to discuss how too piss more money away on the lazy worthless people. Get real these people are her because you keep giving them things wake up!!!!!!