United to End Homelessness

By La Crosse County Board Chair Monica Kruse and La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds

View the Pathways Home plan at this link.

For the first time, the city and county of La Crosse are working together on a long-term plan to end chronic homelessness in our community. We have named the plan Pathways Home.

This effort shows we are serious about ending homelessness in our community. This is a commitment that is ambitious and aggressive and one that will benefit everyone in our city and county.

We are not reinventing the wheel. The Pathways Home plan draws on successful models from similar communities. What those models show is a need for consistent leadership, better use of data, more supportive housing and comprehensive case management. Our plan will improve the homelessness response system in each of those areas.

A crucial step in Pathways Home is to end homeless encampments. This will happen once our new homelessness response system is fully operational. Simply put, in the future, we will not tolerate the public hazards encampments create. Allowing encampments suggests a tacit acknowledgement that our community accepts this as a viable living model. That must never be the case.

We understand skepticism from a public that has watched homelessness increase despite a significant outlay of public resources, often spent on temporary fixes. Pathways Home is firmly focused on eliminating any duplication in the homelessness response system, fully deploying existing resources and driving toward long-term solutions.

Until now, the city and county have not had a formal role in homelessness response. This plan changes that, and we believe the big picture perspective and consistent leadership local government provides will make a difference. At present, our homelessness response system is fragmented. Pathways Home will improve coordination, freeing up agencies to focus on performing in the roles to which they are best suited.

 Moving people into housing is a key component of Pathways Home, but housing alone is not enough. Many people experiencing homelessness have mental health and substance use disorder issues but face barriers to accessing the support they need. The La Crosse County Human Services Department has resources and expertise to help, but until now has not been fully engaged in the community’s homelessness response system. Pathways Home will change that, with a new and dedicated team of county staff to assist with behavioral health and case management.

While we have much work to do on increasing housing availability, progress is happening. The county has invested $3 million in a program run by Couleecap and Catholic Charities to provide transitional housing for homeless families. The first family was housed in November 2023. More will follow this year.

As part of the renovation of the county’s Hillview Health Care Center, 10 units of bridge housing are being developed. An apartment complex underway on Fourth Street in La Crosse will contain 13 units reserved for people transitioning out of homelessness. As part of Pathways Home, the city has plans to invest in long-term leases with landlords for supportive housing. Combined, these initiatives will have a real and significant impact very quickly, and there is more to come.

Homelessness affects all sectors of our community. It increases costs for our health systems. That’s one reason why both Gundersen Health System and Mayo Clinic have expressed support for this plan. Homelessness, and particularly encampments, also strain the community’s entire criminal justice system. Accordingly, both La Crosse Police Chief Shawn Kudron and La Crosse County Sheriff John Siegel support Pathways Home.

No one should be homeless in La Crosse or indeed anywhere in America in 2024, but it is an issue large and small communities across our country are facing for a variety of systemic reasons. In that sense, there is nothing unique about the La Crosse region. The good news is that we now have a coordinated and well-conceived plan that has broad support from many of our community partners. It will take time, but we are moving in the right direction.

We encourage all residents to engage in the implementation of the Pathways Home plan and to help us realize the potential of bringing an end to the decades-long challenge of persistent and chronic homelessness in our community. We invite all to track our progress as we work toward the goal of ending long-term homelessness in La Crosse County by 2029. For those who doubt these efforts or criticize the execution, we recommend sharing your plan with us.