Pathways Home: Background

What are we doing: The City of La Crosse and La Crosse County have developed a new coordinated homelessness action plan called Pathways Home. The goal is to achieve Functional Zero homelessness in La Crosse by 2029.

Why are we doing this: The city and county have identified a need for a sustainable, data-driven and coordinated response to homelessness. At present, homelessness response is often fragmented and lacks clear goals. This plan will pool resources, learn from what has worked elsewhere, and have accountable leadership.

What’s next: Pathways Home was presented to a joint meeting of La Crosse County Board and City of La Crosse Common Council on Monday, Jan. 8, and implementation of the plan has begun. 

What does functional zero mean: Functional Zero is a benchmark used by many other communities to effectively end homelessness by preventing homelessness whenever possible, and ensuring it’s rare brief and only happens one time if it does occur. For our community, it would mean the number of people experiencing homelessness never exceeds our capacity to move people into permanent housing.

What about the organizations already working on homelessness: Community agencies working on homelessness in our city and county will be an integral part of the plan. Input from those organizations has helped and will continue to inform this process. We believe everyone will benefit from the greater coordination offered by this new approach under the city and county’s leadership.

Learn more: Read the Pathways Home plan here.

How do I contact the team working on this project: You can email Brian Sampson, City of La Crosse Homeless Services Coordinator at [email protected] or Isaac Hoffman, La Crosse Area Family Collaborative Director at [email protected].

Monthly Pathways Updates

07/01/2024

• Initial data from the Pathways to Housing list, along with a year one timeline for the plan, is available on the County’s Pathways Home website: Homelessness Plan (lacrossecounty.org).  Starting in July, updates on plan progress will be made available monthly on the website.  More frequent updates will be posted on city and county social media platforms.     
• Homeless outreach efforts have increased to 3 times per week.  The team will go anywhere and everywhere within the city limits to connect with people experiencing homelessness.
  
• Pathways Home is a comprehensive plan to achieve functional zero homelessness.  It is not a single program but a collaborative effort between the city, county and numerous community partners who combine efforts and resources to help people achieve permanent housing.  The Pathways to Housing list helps us know all people experiencing homelessness in the city and their housing needs.
  
• The City of La Crosse launched a request for information seeking partners to bring innovative ideas for increasing capacity of specialized housing.  The city is seeking long-term, sustainable solutions for housing development.  An information session will be held virtually Monday, July 22 at 11 am. Link to RFI: https://www.cityoflacrosse.org/Home/Components/RFP/RFP/58/.