Later this month, volunteers will be combing the Northwoods looking for people who are homeless.
The semi-annual Wisconsin Statewide Point-In-Time Count is scheduled for January 27. the Northern Wisconsin Initiative to Stop Homelessness ..or N*WISH Continuum of Care... will be joining homeless coalitions around the state in completing a local count of individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
Locally, Lori Hallas describes the effort...
"....our community includes Oneida, Vilas, Forest and Langlade counties. We have volunteers going to known locations where people might be staying for the street count. Then we have the sheltered count where we capturing information from our shelters and our transitional housing programs and our rapid rehousing programs in our communities...."
Staff and volunteers will count persons in shelters for the night as well as persons residing on the streets, under bridges, or similar places not meant for human habitation.
The public is asked to help. If you know of someone who is homeless, sleeping on the street or in places not meant for human habitation contact the Northern Advantage Job Center. The collected data will assist the community in understanding the scope and size of local homelessness, help local programs and to apply for state and federal funding. A similar count is held during the summer months.
