One thing we pride ourselves on at Wisconsin Watch is responding to tips from the public about the real problems affecting people’s lives.
That’s how Hallie Claflin’s story about rural homelessness began.
On Oct. 6, Eric Zieroth emailed us with this message: “Local homeless family unable to even use public showers that are maintained by the city government in a community that there’s no help for them in.”
Hallie and photographer Joe Timmerman made the four-hour trek from Madison to Shell Lake to learn more about Eric’s story. As the editor, one thing I emphasized was that telling the story of Eric and his daughter spending last winter in their car as they struggled with health issues, low-wage work and unaffordable housing was only the beginning of a broader story about rural homelessness.
Wisconsin’s rural homelessness crisis and the fight to do ‘more with less’
Homelessness in rural Wisconsin, while often unseen, is increasing. Yet a grueling funding landscape, among other challenges, poses obstacles for local shelters and rural providers.
Less than a week after Hallie was the first to report on Wisconsin’s homeless population rising above 5,000 for the first time since 2017 (despite a decline in Milwaukee), national news outlets first reported on an 18% increase in homelessness nationwide. The affordability crisis is hitting home for many in Wisconsin, and though we’ve made strides to improve housing in Milwaukee, rural areas are suffering. Many of these areas are represented by the Republicans who control the Legislature and are in position to steer resources to their communities.
Throughout the upcoming legislative budget session, Hallie will be covering how issues like rural homelessness are addressed, if at all. We’ll continue to put a human face on the problems facing society and hold politicians accountable for finding solutions.
You can help by sending us tips using this form. Or if you have a question about how state government works (or doesn’t work!), you can send it to us here.
Thanks to the dozens of people who have reached out to us in recent months. We can’t necessarily report on every tip, but we do review each one. We’re working on our system to follow up with people who submit tips we’re not well positioned to investigate — to explain why. To prioritize our resources, we focus on stories most likely to resonate with readers and improve lives.
We appreciate hearing from people who trust us with their story or ideas, even when they don’t immediately result in coverage.
After looking into rural homelessness, we saw that it checked multiple boxes for a Wisconsin Watch story.
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