APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – People are invited to an afternoon roundtable discussion on the issue of homelessness.
The Assembly passed a series of bills last month to create a council to deal with the matter, which Representative Jim Steineke says affected roughly 26,000 Wisconsinites last year, not including those who were at risk of homelessness or were staying with family or friends.
Steineke explains the purpose of the recently-passed legislation.
“The creation of an inter-agency council, comprised of the secretary’s of the eight different agencies (that receive state funding to target the homelessness problem but do not currently have a formal means of communicating with one another) along with the lieutenant governor. Their task would really be to coordinate efforts and make sure that every taxpayer dollar is being spent wisely.”
Steineke notes homelessness does not just affect Wisconsin’s big cities, like Milwaukee and Madison.
“When you’re traveling the streets of Appleton or Green Bay, you don’t typically see people laying out in the streets or sleeping on park benches, but our issues up here have more to do with insecurity of peoples’ positions in their homes.”
Monday’s event runs from 2:30-4:30 pm at Fox Valley Technical College’s D.J. Bordini Center, 5 North Systems Drive, in Appleton.
Wisconsin legislators, government officials, agency officials, and homelessness advocates will conduct homeless facility tours and host a roundtable discussion to hear what people believe is and is not working with current efforts.
Steineke looks at the legislation’s path ahead.
“Hopefully, the bills will get through this Senate in June yet, then be signed into law shortly after. Hopefully, we can get that inter-agency council up and off the ground by fall.”
Steineke says the legsilation would bring a pricetag of roughly $300,000 annually.
