Published Aug. 31, 2018
MONROE — Members of a local group and other officials are working to steel Green County residents against housing problems likely to increase after the reduction in federal aid from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and address ongoing housing issues.
Rick Gleason, chair of the Green County Council on Housing & Homelessness Prevention, which was formerly known as the homelessness coalition, said he and others have been working to give the organization “a restart.”
“What is both of interest, and of real concern, is the crisis situation we’re in with housing and we want to try to somehow get that word out to the local communities here in Green County, so that people have a better understanding,” Gleason said.
He pointed to a recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition with more than 280 pages outlining housing problems throughout the country. Gleason said he shared the data with the board of Family Promise of Green County, the county Habitat For Humanity branch, his own Men’s Resource Center Board and Assistant City Administrator Sam Liebert.
The report, broken down by state, shows that on average, Wisconsin workers must make $16.52 per hour in a household in order to rent a fair market value apartment with two bedrooms. Otherwise, they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
“Many people throughout our area are at minimum wage jobs,” Gleason said. “What this says is that a person who’s working a minimum wage job has to work 2.1 full-time jobs per week just to pay the rent.”
And those working over 80 hours each week may also need childcare, which comes at an additional cost, he added.
In the proposed 2019 federal budget, the president outlined a decrease in $8.8 billion from the 2017 costs.
“That’s going to have a direct impact on people in our community; families and individuals right here in Green County,” Gleason said, adding that those working more than one job are hardworking people who still rely on the subsidized housing program and other government programs.
“I fear we’re going to see a huge increase of people locally needing additional help because of losing federal benefits,” Gleason said. “We’re going to be the ones who are called to step up and somehow help bridge those gaps with those people. I don’t know what the answer is because we have such an extreme shortage of housing already.”
NLIHC also published a gap report in its findings, which supports with data what those in Monroe and surrounding communities already know; there is a lack of affordable housing. For every 100 households designated as “extremely low income renter” in Wisconsin, there are only 28 affordable and available rental homes.
Wisconsin is one of the worst states for availability, alongside Texas with 30, California with 22 and Nevada with 15. According to the report, it is ranked as having the 7th lowest availability in the country. The report also supports with data a fact well known anecdotally for the residents of Green County; there is a shortage of housing.
As the remaining 72 households look for housing, members rely on family and friends to live on couches temporarily and sleep in vehicles as they wait on a list that may take months to produce any results. In Green County, Gleason said Family Promise has helped more than 50 families since the beginning of the year and that for some, it took more than six months to be admitted into subsidized housing. One family moved out of the county and members commute to work each day, he added.
“It’s not because they don’t have funds, it’s not because they’re not working, it’s because there is no housing available,” Gleason said. “By the time they get to us, they have no other options; they have nowhere else to go.”
The council has plans to work with the incoming UniverCity group from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study how to make the situation better for those struggling to find a home. Gleason said he has also spoken to Liebert about possibly applying for community development block grants.
Gleason said the group is hopeful that the assorted county groups can find answers to improve the housing situation locally.
“Is it going to be immediate? No. It’s going to take time,” Gleason said. “But in the meantime, there’s got to be some kind of a stop-gap answer to help these people who are falling between the cracks while we move in the right direction. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”