by Peter Power

Wisconsin is at a crossroads in addressing homelessness. Senate Bill 605 and Assembly Bill 607 would invest in emergency rental assistance, civil legal aid, workforce development, mental health services, transit, and lead abatement—proven strategies to keep people housed. Yet not a single member of the majority party in the Wisconsin Legislature has co-sponsored these bills.
Meanwhile, proposed federal changes threaten to cut support for permanent “Housing First” programs by nearly two-thirds, potentially pushing an estimated 170,000 people back onto the streets.
Research suggests that homelessness is not a static condition. People move in and out of housing as they experience job loss, illness, domestic violence, rising rents, or a missed paycheck. When we invest in rental assistance, legal help, transportation to work, and effective mental health and addiction services, we keep people from falling into long-term homelessness in the first place. When we cut those supports — or refuse even to co-sponsor a serious state plan to strengthen them — we guarantee higher human and financial costs down the road: more shelter beds, more emergency room visits, more strain on police and local governments.
This isn’t just about political ideology; it’s about basic prudence and decency. I urge legislative leaders to give SB 605 and AB 607 hearings, listen to people with lived experience of homelessness, and work across party lines to strengthen—not weaken—the systems that keep people housed. And I hope readers will contact their state legislators and ask a simple question: if not this bill, and not these federal supports, then what exactly is their plan to prevent more of our neighbors from becoming homeless?