December 2024 Minutes
Fox Cities Housing Coalition
December 18, 2024
Minutes
A. Call to Order
B. Present: Molly McGregor, Lori Jensen, Nicole Hecimovich, Emily Murphy, Jodell Gagnow, Don Carper, Anna Gerstner, Megan Wanke, Cynthia Whitely, Rachel Youngquist, Laurie McCullough, Richard Dodge, Nha Ly, Olivia Galyon, Claire Hoslet, Shavone Brown, Shaundra Wagner, Bonnie Nussbaum, Cheryl Schefe, Stephanie Van Hulst, Connie Raether, Deb Langacker, Kristine Giornalista, Lisa Strandberg, Susan Garcia Franz, Amy Flanders, Jo Muehl, Kim Juve, Jennie Moore, Leah DeShaney, Donna Eggert, Becky Heldt, Jason Lake, Kim Kopplin, Chris Biese, Monk Elmer Dana Roth, Kim Luke, Terry Gottfried, Elizabeth Reyes, Eli Ascher, Wayne Timm, Adam Hurst, Kristi Clover, Liz Croley, Quincy Davidson, Jennie Micke, Amanda Lewis, Jon Pylypyv, Kim Mehlberg, Stacey West, Melanie Haen
C. Approval of November 20, 2024 Minutes: Becky Heldt moves, Susan Garcia Franz seconds. Motion carries.
D. Treasurer’s Report--Deb Langacker: $9385
E. Coordinated Entry Update--Liz Croley: PiT is Jan. 22 from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.. If you have connections with your city or county supervisors, especially in Menasha, invite them to join the night. WIBOSCOC survey of organizations and clients ends Dec. 31st.
F. Vote for Secretary; Kristi moves, Molly seconds electing Connie Raether for a two year term as secretary. Motion carries.
G. Housing Alliance--Kristine Giornalista; Working with the Fox Cities Housing Alliance, which came out of the Outagamie County housing study in 2022. There were 18 recommendations, one of which was to form a Housing Alliance. Kristine is the consultant with that group. End goal to have an Executive Director at some point. Collective impact model focusing on systems change. Hoping to be a catalyst and a connector of all the people/organizations in the housing realm. Link to Outagamie County Housing Studye: https://www.outagamie.org/government/departments-a-e/development-and-land-services/comprehensive-planning-special-projects/housing-strategy Basic Needs, Outagamie County, Community Foundation of the Fox Valley Region are the funders.
H. Updates:
a. Landlord Meeting; Reps from 6 agencies met with landlord Chris Mokler. Great discussion. Two major points: landlords are looking for ways to mitigate their risk and would like to see tenants have more training in “how to be a tenant.” Consensus is that Rent Smart is too long and should have more hands on experiences. Will meet again to look at possible next steps and hopefully have more landlords come to the table. WISCAP website Badger State Housing Alliance has their monthly webinars called Curds of WISDOM on their landing page at https://wiscap.org/bsha/
b. Faith Housing Summit: Update postponed til January.
I. Report to the Community: Years ago we did one live and we also did one over video. Important to keep the issue in the eyes of the community. Consensus seems to be to have another in person event.
J. Committee Updates
a. Affordable Housing--Susan Garcia Franz: Continuing our presentations. Hoping to get housing champions from the attendees. Looking for opportunities to present.
b. DEI--Tracie La Rue Moen: Recruiting more individuals from the bipoc community. Recruiting speakers to educate committee members in hopes of then educating the public. If you’d like to join the committee, let Liz Croley or Tracie know; they meet the first Wednesday of the month at 1:00.
c. Website Task Force--Jonathon Pylypiv: It’s functioning well. You can have your organization link to the website. If you see any typos let Jonathan know. Link to foxcitieshousing.org from your organization’s website.
d. Increase Non-Employment Cash income--Jennie Moore: Committee meets to look at ways to increase non employment cash income to clients, ie. Social security disability, SSI, foodshare, etc.
e. Prevent or Reverse the Criminalization of Homelessness--Lisa Strandberg: Partnered with Winnebagoland Coalition. Spoke against Winnebago county’s proposed amendments criminalizing camping and loitering. Inviting folks from Menasha, Neenah, Appleton Common Councils to participate in PiT.
K. Other Business: Medicaid benefit approved: People who provide Medicaid services will be able to bill for their supportive services. More organizations may show interest in joining our coalition due to this. Advocap is considering billing for medicaid so connect with Becky Held if your agency is interested in learning more. Also contact Adam Hurst for more info.
City of Appleton is updating their comprehensive plan. Housing is a big focus. Planappleton.org is the website and you can complete the survey there.
City of Neenah had a survey so if you live in Neenah, go to the city website to complete.
L. Adjourn;
Next Meeting – January 15th via zoom