Section 1: Homelessness in Wisconsin
Homelessness is a significant public health concern.
Poverty, disability, domestic violence, lack of support networks, unemployment, underemployment, lack of affordable housing, economic inequality, geographic barriers, and lack of access to mental health and substance use care can all drive an individual or household toward homelessness or sustain homelessness once it has occurred.
By the numbers
On any given day 5,049 people in Wisconsin experience homelessness. Of the people experiencing homelessness, 24% have a serious mental illness, and 13% report chronic substance use issues (source: National Alliance to End Homelessness). Although mental illness and substance use disorders do not necessarily cause homelessness, they can contribute to and sustain it by interfering with the ability to pay rent on time, attend to daily home management, get or maintain employment, and meet life goals. If left unresolved, these factors can lead to chronic homelessness.
Fifteen percent of people in Wisconsin experiencing homelessness meet the criteria for chronic homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines chronic homelessness as having a disability and being continuously homeless for at least one year or experiencing at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years, with the combined length of time homeless being at least 12 months.
Data sources
- See HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report for more information on demographic characteristics, service use patterns, and capacity to house.
- Visit the HUD Exchange for Continuum of Care and statewide Point-in-Time Counts data files. HUD each year conducts a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. These Point-in-time Counts provide estimates of the number of people experiencing homelessness within specific populations, such as by age groups, ethnicity, veteran status, chronic homelessness status, family status, and unaccompanied youth. The HUD Exchange also includes HUD population and subpopulation reports (PDF).
- See Wisconsin's profile in the U.S. Census Bureau's QuickFacts tool for basic population, business, and geography statistics for the state.
Next - Section 2: Overview of PATH