This data set is an unduplicated total number of people that were using emergency shelters in Brown County throughout each Fiscal Year (October 1 through September 31). Additionally, the average number of days that clients reside in emergency shelters has more than doubled: from an average of 32 days in 2020 to nearly 77 days in 2022*. 

The increase in number of people experiencing homelessness and the length of time homeless in recent years stems from growing economic inequality that has been exacerbated by a global pandemic, a supply shortage of housing, and rising housing costs. There are many factors that can cause someone to become homeless, making it an even more complicated problem to address. 

Evidence shows that homelessness is largely the result of failed policies, severely underfunded programs, and inequitable access to economic opportunity, quality education and health care (including mental health and substance use treatments).

Most importantly, a long-term underinvestment in affordable housing development and preservation has led to severe shortages in safe, accessible, and affordable housing. The 2020 Green Bay Housing Market Study demonstrates that there is an undersupply of 3,715 rental units for households earning between 0-30% of the Area Median Income (AMI) level, the lowest income households in Green Bay. To cap it off, wage growth has not kept up with the fast rise of rent. According to census data, approximately 65% of all Green Bay renters are burdened by the cost of their housing. Many people in Brown County live paycheck-to-paycheck, leaving them just one paycheck away from potentially falling into homelessness.

The Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness highlights all of these limiting factors, and outlines strategies as to how the community can move forward to reduce homelessness. Ending homelessness requires cross-sector partnerships, system-change efforts, and a focus on upstream prevention. The work in Brown County must also align with other plans to address homelessness, such as Wisconsin’s state plan ‘Welcoming Wisconsin Home: A Statewide Action Plan for Homelessness’ and the United States’ Federal plan ‘All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and Homelessness’.

*https://icalliances.org/local-system-performance-measures

Greater Green Bay Regional Council to Prevent & End Homelessness, made up of:

• Brown County
• Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition
• Brown County United Way
• City of Green Bay
• Greater Green Bay Community Foundation

Additional partnerships include members of the Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition, including the local emergency and domestic violence shelters:

• Freedom House
• Golden House
• House of Hope
• New Community Shelter
• Safe Shelter
• St. Johns Ministries
• The Center for Advocating, Believing, and Achieving (CABA) - Newcap

Opportunities for further partnerships:

Recognizing that homelessness and housing instability is a complex, multi-faceted community issue, we believe that every Greater Green Bay stakeholder has the potential to bring solutions, expertise, and energy to the work to prevent and end homelessness in the Greater Green Bay Region. An ambitious goal to end homelessness cannot be done by the homeless response system alone.

Whether you are a concerned citizen, a member of a faith community, an elected official, a government employee, a business person, a school administrator or teacher, a member of law enforcement or the court system, a health care leader or medical professional, a direct service provider, a social service leader, a person with lived experience, or a member of an array of these groups – we need you.

Strategies for implementation as outlined in the Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness:

• Strategy 1: Increase access to affordable housing options
  • Develop new units
  • Increase landlord engagement and incentives
  • Increase housing options utilizing current housing stock
• Strategy 2: Increase access to and coordination of services
  • Increase coordination between providers and increase access to shelter and services
  • Increase access to mental health and substance use services that are trauma-informed and culturally responsive
  • Increase use and understanding of Coordinated Entry
    • Coordinated Entry: a collaborative “no-wrong door” network that connects people experiencing homelessness to housing programs based on their level of vulnerability that’s assessed through a survey called VI-SPDAT
• Strategy 3: Employers and educators as part of the solution
  • Encourage employers to offer non-traditional employee benefits: Childcare, Transportation, Housing
  • Increase employment pathways and training programs
• Strategy 4: Prevent homelessness, support employment, decrease justice involvement
  • Prevent homelessness and increase resources to help build wealth and financial literacy
  • Increase safe and affordable childcare opportunities
  • Ensure people are connected to housing prior to exiting institutions: Set people up for success
  • Implement strategic and cost-effective alternatives to ticketing and incarceration
• Strategy 5: Tell the story
  • Educate and inform the community
  • Advocate for change in policies and programs

In 2022, a Blueprint Implementation Director was hired for the Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness and the Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition developed a new strategic plan. Over the next few years, with these foundational building blocks in place, the partners of this strategy intend to:

• Implement the tasks outlined in the Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness
• Build cross-sector partnerships to achieve the work in the Blueprint and increase community-wide collaboration 
• Increase community awareness of homelessness, what it is and what is being done to address it
• Determine the best performance improvement measures and track progress of Blueprint work
• Use data to drive decision-making
• Build a stronger street outreach and Coordinated Entry system
• Evaluate gaps in current services and determine path forward in addressing gaps
• Advocate for policy changes that will improve services and systems