January 2025 Minutes
Fox Cities Housing Coalition
January 15, 2025
8:00 AM
Minutes
A. Call to Order
B. Present: Kim Luke, Kim Esselman, Rachel Youngquist, Molly McGregor, Megan Wanke, Stacey West, Deb Langacker, Paige Johnson, Jason Lake, Chanon Jordan, Connie Raether, Kristin with Pillars, Cheryl Spindler, Tracie LaRue Moen, Adam Hurst, Jennie Moore, Claire Hoslet, Cheryl Schefe, Richard Dodge, Lori Jensen, Liz Croley, Amy Lang, Susan Garcia Franz, Mike Garrigan, Julie Reindl, Amy Flanders, Jodell Gagnow, Cynthia Whitely, Leah DeShaney, Stefanie Ebbens, Donna Eggert, Shaundra Wagner, Lisa Strandberg, Laurie McCulloch, Emily Murphy, Stephanie Van Hulst, Betsy Reidl, Katie Van Groll, Mindy Howell, Laura Jackson AASD, Kimberly Mehlberg, Michelle Ruhl, Wayne Timm, Melanie Haen, Deanna Kloster, Jackie Gonzalez, Bonnie Nussbaum, Kelly Frichner, Kim Kopplin, Shavon with PoP, Dana Roth, Jonathan Pylypyv, Breanna Mekuly, MaryBeth Wohlrabe, Olivia Galyon, Shaundra Robinson Elizabeth Reyes, Kristine Giornalista, Nhia Ly, Megan Zimmerman, Kelly Kohl, Lindsey Ross, someone else from B and GC, Ana Gerstner, Nicole Hecimovich, Jolene Parker-Flores, Breanna Rosik, Callie Timm, Kendra Krisher, Nicole Majinski, Terry Gottfried, Jennie Micke, Kimberly Huddleston
C. Approval of December 18, 2024 Minutes: Liz moves, Katie seconds. Motion carries.
D. Treasurer’s Report--Deb Langacker: $350 for food for December meeting. Balance $9203.31. Invoices have been sent.
E. Coordinated Entry Update--Liz Croley: Attached. Need one more leader for PiT. Let Liz know if you can help. Also looking for two people from noon-1:30 to help with lunch at Salvation Army on Thursday or Friday after PiT. Training for PiT is this week.
F. Pillars Cold Weather Policy--Pillars Staff: When temperatures are 10 degrees or lower, through the support of First UM, First Congregational UCC, Memorial Presbyterian and a Family Foundation, the cold weather response plan goes into effect. As folks present in person at either shelter or the Resource Center, they will have a warm place to be as long as funding and staffing allow. Resource Center is open Monday through Friday during the day. Pillars is communicating with organizations and churches to let them know about the cold weather policy. Collaborating with St. Joseph Catholic Church. Served 17 people last night through cold weather response. The Adult Shelter is open from 4:30 p.m. til 8 a.m. but on weekends the Adult Shelter remains open during the day for the Shelter clients. Adult and Family Shelter is open 24/7.
Winter Shelter Overflow: People who are on the shelter waiting list may be able to stay at a hotel. 7 people were served last night. If you see someone who appears homeless in Appleton you can call the APD non-emergency line at 920-832-5500 and they will do a welfare check. In other communities, there is probably a police department non-emergency line you can call as well. St. Joseph has a grab and go which is lunch and snacks on Tuesday afternoons. They also have winter clothes and an array of toothbrushes, etc.
G. January Spotlight – Fair Housing, Megan Wanke and Stefanie Ebbens: Mission is to ……….. Programs include enforcement, fair lending, outreach and education and inclusive communities. Anyone in a protected class who feels they have been discriminated against can file a complaint. About half complaints received are about disabilities, especially around reasonable accommodations. 2 free fair housing trainings coming up. Info in attachment. They work proactively with communities in addition to direct service work. All services are free. Rolling out their mobility program to ensure that people on housing assistance programs are able to have more choices as to where they live, especially in areas of economic mobility: Milwaukee is the only city in Wisconsin with a mobility program. They work with housing providers to help them understand the program and they can provide incentives for providers who accept housing vouchers. Their Inclusive Communities program runs the mobility program. Working with Joshua in Green Bay and other communities to push for concrete plans for affordable housing.
H. Update on Landlord Discussion--Connie Raether: Our landlord did not come to the last meeting. Discussing the Rent Smart program and how to possibly incentivize people to take it and landlords to give preference to those who have taken it.
I. Meet in person more than 4 times a year—Discussion: Many people would like to meet more often in person but travel would be difficult for some. Hybrid is difficult and costly if you get good technology. Lisa Strandberg will talk with her IT specialist about technology and Liz will develop a survey to see what most people want.
J. Report to the Community Event Planning Work Group: Need a planning group. If you’re willing to help, please let Rachel know. This would probably be in the fall. Jon Pylypyv offered to help.
K. Committee Updates
a. Affordable Housing--Susan Garcia Franz: Working on the presentation and putting together a training for affordable housing champions. If anyone is interested in joining the committee, we meet via zoom the first Tuesday of the month at 11. Let Connie know if you’d like to join.
b. DEI--Tracie La Rue Moen: Nothing to report at this time.
c. Increase Non-Employment Cash income--Jennie Moore: Meeting quarterly and looking at COLA increases in SS and SSDI.
d. Prevent or Reverse the Criminalization of Homelessness--Lisa Strandberg: Lisa joined WISCAP’s Curds of WISDOM webinar last week. Recording available at https://wiscap.org/bsha Becky Heldt of Advocap hosted The Faces of Homelessness 2.0 and invited Winnebago County supervisors. Heard from the Green Bay Safe Parking Program and other statewide efforts to prevent criminalization of homelessness.
Lisa Strandberg moves that we spend up to $250 for gift cards for PiT. Motion carries.
L. Adjourn
Recording available: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/d-5W_PwzoyesTxGQTJ1n-jlIzrvj-ZhdyDAsbbvjXKLORmdcMw0u8rXza7vGtDdZ.NTN8rH3YHQeHZ7vg?startTime=1736949629000
Passcode: JS1MF*rH
Next Meeting – February 19th
Visit our website at www.foxcitieshousing.org
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