The United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County announced Tuesday that it has reached its goal to put an end to family homelessness in Milwaukee and Ozaukee Counties, as determined by United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH).
The achievement makes Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties the first communities in the U.S. to have met USICH’s criteria for ending family homelessness, the nonprofit said. Other local communities, including Waukesha and Washington counties are very close to meeting the USICH criteria, as well, it said.
The organization launched its Safe & Stable Homes initiative in August 2019 with the goal of eliminating family homelessness in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties by 2025. Since then, it has raised millions of dollars toward the effort, which aims to prevent families from being evicted.
“We continue to dream of and work towards a world where not a single family ever has an unsafe or unhoused day,” said
Amy Lindner, president & CEO of United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. “Meeting this milestone is a huge step forward for our community and all families who experience any housing instability. For the first time, we have the resources in place to help an unhoused family get back under the safety of their own roof within days or weeks with support to remain stable—to become rooted members of their community."
Key partners involved to help meet the USICH criteria were the Milwaukee Continuum of Care (CoC), the United Way of Northern Ozaukee, emergency family shelters and rapid rehousing providers, case managers, and eviction lawyers.
Fundraising goal exceeded
The celebratory news came during the United Way chapter’s annual campaign closing event at the Grain Exchange Building in Milwaukee, where it revealed it has exceeded its 2023 campaign fundraising goal. The nonprofit set a goal in August to raise $57 million. On Tuesday it announced it has raised $57,042,911. More than a dozen corporate sponsors each contributed $1 million or more to this year’s campaign. Among the biggest donors were Baird, which contributed $3.8 million, Northwestern Mutual, which contributed $3.3 million, Johnson Controls, which contributed $3.2 million, T&M Partners, LLC., and the Kelben Foundation, which, together contributed $5 million, and Aurora Health Care, which contributed $2.6 million.
Ascension contributed $1 million, and sponsored Tuesday’s event.
In addition to its continued efforts to fight family homelessness in the region, money raised during this year’s campaign will go to fund a number of new and existing initiatives.
Those other initiatives were centered around helping the needy access the internet effectively, helping workers obtain a job with a family-sustaining wage, and addressing youth mental health.
One of the goals, the organization has in the new year is to provide 50,000 computers for families without such technology in their homes over the next three years.
Nearly 1,500 companies and organizations and 35,000 individual donors contribute to the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County annually, pledging funds between August and December.
The 2023 Community Campaign was chaired by three community leaders:
Sheldon Cuffie of American Family Insurance Group,
Michelle Nettles of ManpowerGroup and
Stephanie Riesch-Knapp of R&R Insurance Services, Inc.
Ending family homelessness
Under the guidelines set forth by USICH to end family homelessness, families should also never be evicted, and if they are, that eviction should be brief – meaning that there should be systems in place to help such families quickly find their next home. Additionally, families who have experienced such homelessness should never have to experience it again.
The definition, said the United Way, is about a community having the structural pieces in place to prevent as many evictions as possible and, where not possible, to respond rapidly.
Three key strategies that drove the results in Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties were inspired by great work in other communities and national evidence-based best practices, the organization said. In the eviction prevention area, EvictionFreeMKE, a right-to-counsel program has provided lawyers for families in eviction court. Other services developed as part of the effort include, the Milwaukee Rental Housing Resource Center, a one-stop place for tenants and landlords to pull all local housing resources together in one place, The Family Flex Fund, which provides tiers of flexible financial support and case management to prevent homelessness or to move from shelter to homes, and a school-based housing case management program that provides wraparound supportive services to the families of students with unstable housing so they can remain in their home and school.
“To achieve this goal does not mean a problem has been forever solved,” Lindner said. “We know we will continue to see families struggle to stay in their homes. Now our community has strategies and plans in place to address solutions to keep families safely in their homes.”
Additional programs and services involved in the Safe & Stable Housing effort include case management, rental assistance, and tenant and landlord mediation.
“We’re deeply grateful to our Safe & Stable Homed Advisory Council, our agency partners, our municipal partners, our staff, our board, our tens of thousands of donors, and so many others who have made this incredible accomplishment a reality for our community,” Lindner said Tuesday.
Other results of the Safe & Stable Homes initiative have included improved collaboration, data collection and enhanced homelessness prevention programs and services in place for families in all four metro Milwaukee area counties, according to the United Way.
“Before Safe & Stable Homes, there were almost no programs specifically preventing family homelessness. Today, there are over 20 programs that help families stay safely in their homes,” it said.
“Some people have the perception that ending homelessness is about fixing individuals who have made poor choices that led them to being on the street,” Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly said. “In reality, ending family homelessness is about fixing the system level of things to give people the resources they need. We are so proud of the accomplishments we have made in Waukesha so far, and we look forward to continuing to find solutions to keep families in their homes.”
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Campaign co-chairs for United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County’s 2023 campaign, Stephanie Riesch-Knapp of R&R Insurance Services, Inc., Michelle Nettles of ManpowerGroup, and Sheldon Cuffie of American Family Insurance Group celebrate the organization’s fundraising total at the Grain Exchange on Tuesday evening.[/caption]
