Detox Center, Eviction Lawyers, Student Aid Would Be Cut In 2026

Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County is preparing to cut funding for programs that help low-income residents maintain housing, continue attending college and detox from substance abuse.

Under Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley‘s proposed 2026 budget, Behavioral Health Services (BHS), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is preparing for a $17.6 million budget cut next year. The spending reductions are driven by declining Medicaid enrollment, expiration of federal grants and a $500,000 reduction in property tax support.

The spending reductions amount to $7 million in service cuts, according to Matthew Fortman, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) fiscal administrator. Fortman briefed the county board’s Committee on Finance Wednesday. Some of the reductions are driven by declining program utilization he said.

Among those being cut are three programs that will lose all county support: the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) Fast Fund ($250,000), the Legal Aid Society’s Right to Counsel program ($200,000) and a substance abuse detox center ($2.9 million).

The county has a longstanding structural deficit, and Crowley’s administration had to close a $46.7 million budget gap before submitting a recommended budget to the board in September. Departments across the county are preparing for less property tax funding. The budget gap leaves the county with few options to backfill lost federal funding, or Medicaid revenue, Crowley noted in his budget address.

DHHS tries to rely on Medicaid revenue and federal grants more than county tax levy, “because we know that that piece of the pie gets a little bit smaller every year with the county’s financial condition,” Fortman said. Many services are mandated by state statute, and some are funded partially with tax levy revenue through matching grants, which makes it difficult to cut tax levy spending on mandated services without losing the remainder of the program funding.

“So it gets really, really hard when we try to start saving tax levy,” Fortman said. “So the only thing that is left to cut is those non-mandated services that aren’t otherwise funded, and those are some of our most important services that we’ve been doing for a long time, the community values a lot, we value a lot, but it’s really the only place that we can go.”

DHHS Director Shakita LaGrant-McClain said the department is working with providers and community partners on a “collective impact” in the areas of housing, community safety, mental-emotional wellness and aging.

“It is that collective impact where we are planning sustainability, that even if we lose funding or revenue, where things begin to change, how do we begin to partner, not just with departments across our county, but with our providers, with our partners as well,” LaGrant-McClain told the Committee on Finance.

For the organizations facing cuts next year, the impact will be layoffs and less service to the community, representatives told Urban Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Detox Center

The First Step Community Recovery Center, 2835 N. 32nd St., is a residential facility providing supervisors and medically-monitored withdrawal from drugs and alcohol. The recommended budget would cut funding for a $2.9 million contract with the center. DHHS contracts are approved and funded through the annual budget process.

The 63-bed facility is operated by Matt Talbot Recovery Services and primarily treats low-income patients. Many patients are homeless, have mental health issues or both.

Without the county funding, the center will shut down, eliminating more than 80 jobs, according to Karl Rajani, president of Matt Talbot Recovery Services.

“It’s literally going to affect thousands of people,” Rajani told Urban Milwaukee.

The facility treated more than 1,800 patients last year. The majority of patients are Black (72%) and come from zip codes with high rates of poverty.

“I want to call attention to the fact that Black men, the data shows, are dying in disproportionate numbers from drug overdoses,” Rajani said.

At the current trajectory, the detox center will see more patients, more admissions and longer stays in 2025, reflecting a growing demand, according to data provided by Rajani. Beyond the impact on the individuals seeking managed withdrawal, Rajani believes local emergency rooms and shelters will be overwhelmed and homelessness and overdose deaths will increase if the center closes.

During the budget meeting Wednesday, Sup. Willie Johnson, Jr. asked Fortman what alternatives exist.

“A lot of individuals using this service aren’t willing to engage with more, I guess, proactive treatment services… but the other alternatives are potentially ending up in an emergency room, potentially ending up using a friend’s house, something like that, which isn’t a great answer, but that’s what we’re faced with,” Fortman said.

Eviction Prevention MKE

Since 2021, the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee has run a free legal representation program, Eviction Free MKE, for Milwaukee County residents facing eviction.

The right-to-counsel program was created with funding from Milwaukee County, the City of Milwaukee and United Way. Each year, since it began, attorneys have helped thousands of indigent individuals and families through the eviction process. A 2021 assessment by Stout, a global investment bank and advisory firm, found the program a major success: eviction judgments were prevented in 76% of cases; eviction records were sealed in 72% of cases; and attorneys prevented an involuntary move in 70% of cases.

The county provided $250,000 for the program in 2025. Along with grants and other public funding the service is being run on an $850,000 budget in 2025. The program’s budget is “somewhat of a moving target,” said Colleen Foley, executive director of the legal aid society. The program has already been pared back since it was created in 2021, during “a time of unprecedented funding” from the American Rescue Plan Act, Foley said.

If the program is light $250,000 next year, though, Foley expects to cut staffing. “Which means fewer households being served, because on average our lawyers are [each] serving about 200 households a year.”

During the first year of the program, Eviction Free MKE provided legal representation to 10,574 households facing eviction, 28,211 total people. Among them were 12,569 children.

According to the Stout report, for every dollar spent on eviction prevention there is an estimated $4.66 local impact in social-safety net spending no longer needed, the benefit of maintaining residency and associated school funding, job stability, educational attainment, less crime and less spending on foster care.

MATC Fast Fund

The MATC FAST Fund, short for Faculty and Students Together, provides no-strings-attached financial assistance to MATC students. The program was created in 2017 by MATC professor Michael Rosen and the MATC educator’s union AFT Local 212.

The FAST Fund allows students to cover expenses that might otherwise prevent them from continuing their education. Fast Fund grants have helped thousands of students pay for housing, tuition, laptops, books, food, transportation, utilities, medical costs and English language services.

Since 2023, the county has provided funding support for the fund. In 2025, the county provided $200,000 or roughly 25% of the annual budget, according to Bria Burris, FAST Fund executive director and a former recipient.

“A lot of students will lose support,” Burris said.

The number of students supported through the program has increased annually, and the demand is only growing, Burris said. During the past school year, the program helped more than 2,400 students. The program is seeing more demand this year, driven in part by the devastating August flooding, Burris said.

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