Homeless Veterans Bill Advances, But Not For All Of Wisconsin

A sign for the Wisconsin legislative Joint Finance Committee. Shawn Johnson/WPR

People working to support homeless veterans say a bill advancing in the state Capitol would provide much needed funding. But they also say it doesn’t address a housing need outside of southeastern Wisconsin.

This week, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee unanimously approved funding for the bill, which would provide $1.9 million spread out in $25 per diem payments to nonprofits that house veterans.

Greg Fritsch is president of the Center for Veterans Issues, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that provides housing and supportive services for veterans throughout the state. Fritsch told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the bill is a step in the right direction.

“It’s not enough, but it will go a long way,” he said.

Besides safe housing, the Center for Veterans Issues program offers support programs and meals to veterans. Fritsch said his group typically operates on a yearly $500,000 deficit, which the bill’s funding would help alleviate.

“Costs never stop going up,” he said. “This will go a long way to helping us provide more beds to veterans.”

Fritsch said his program currently houses 81 men and five women in sites around southeastern Wisconsin.

Currently, the federal Department of Veterans Affairs provides about $85 in per diem payments to nonprofit veterans support organizations for housing and care.

While Fritsch said his organization provides some services like rental assistance statewide, its transitional housing work is only happening in southeastern Wisconsin.

Joey Hoey, assistant deputy secretary at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, told “Wisconsin Today” there is clearly a problem in finding safe housing for veterans, and funding is part of that problem.

Hoey said the $85 per diem payments from the federal VA “is barely enough to house (veterans), let alone provide the kind of counseling and education to get people back on their feet.”

In September of last year, the state VA closed two of its Veteran Housing and Recovery Program facilities, one based in Chippewa Falls and the other in Green Bay.

The bill advanced by the finance committee would not provide the state VA with money to reopen the centers. Instead, it goes toward nonprofit programs which are currently based in southeastern Wisconsin, according to Hoey.

“We fully support these nonprofits — they’re our partners and they do great work. But they’re in Madison, Janesville and Milwaukee,” he said. “It means that none of this money is going to help, no matter what some might try and tell you. This money is not going to help homeless veterans in the northern and western parts of the state.”

Hoey said he previously warned lawmakers the closures of state facilities in northern Wisconsin would happen without proper funding in the state budget. The compromise budget between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature didn’t include funding for the state VA facilities.

“The Joint Finance Committee did this knowing full well that we would have to close those two facilities,” Hoey said. “When the Legislature voted the final vote and didn’t put that money back in the budget, we had to make the tough decision to figure out how much money we had, and we could only keep one of the sites open.”

The state VA still operates a veterans care facility in Union Grove in southeastern Wisconsin.

State finance committee approves bill to fund homeless veterans support was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.