Homelessness and Housing Alliance of Racine County

12/23/2025

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.rid.60977/gov.uscourts.rid.60977.52.0.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawO35rVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR78eB2F4P9VzUU9XWA5CCCjy_z40N61y7yfdmDcTEULe0Xh5dAzijlwFRtfrQ_aem_V5m5HYsK5bBNanIRW6lODw

ORDER for Relief Under 5 U.S.C. § 705 and for Preliminary Injunction. So Ordered by District Judge Mary S. McElroy on 12/23/2025. (Attachments: (1) Appendix) (Potter, Carrie)

11/29/2025

03/16/2025

Homelessness has long been a formally recognized concern in the US. Federal legislation that shaped the definition of homeless for developing social policy. There were four key pieces of legislation, the US Housing Act of 1939, the US Housing Act of 1949, the Dept. of Housing Act of 1965, and the Urgent Relief for Homelessness Act (P.L. 100-77).
In January 1984, President Reagan went on TV and stated that people were on the street by choice. (Jones, MM (2015) Creating a Science of Homelessness During the Reagan Era. The Milbank Quarterly, 93(1), 139-178). However, once he became a lame duck in 1987, he signed the 1987 Stewart B. McKinney Assistance Act (P.L. 100-77), originally known as the Urgent Relief for the Homeless Act.
Between 1990 and 1991. 17 federal agencies (known as the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) conducted focus groups and a 4-question questionnaire at local city levels, including local nonprofit agencies and people with lived experience of being homeless. 4000 responses were gathered and reported to President Clinton. You can find this interesting and informative report called Priority Home: the federal plan to break the cycle of homelessness on Google Books.
In May 1993, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12948 directing the 17 members (the federal department Secretaries) to prepare a coordinated Federal plan to address homelessness. In October 1993, ICH became a workgroup of the White House Domestic Policy Council. They were charged with developing a federal plan to streamline and strengthen a national effort to break the cycle of homelessness. They were also directed to work with state and local governments, nonprofit service providers, and people who have lived experience with homelessness.
This also called for a plan to provide for a continuum-of-care system. We are now Continuum of Care organizations that advocate and work to raise awareness and address homelessness.
I thought a bit of insight into the United States Interagency Council's origin would help understand the service that USICH provides in connecting state, local, and CoCs with the federal agencies to address problems faced by those at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness.
The executive order cuts our connection to Washington. PDJ wants to decentralize everything. He believes control should be at the state & local level. WI does have an Interagency Council that keeps local CoCs connected. All I can add is that some people (PDJT) willfully choose to ignore the historical origin and the role of structure to keep state and local governments connected with federal leaders and provide a voice for those with lived experience. If you check the years of the federal legislation, I'm sure you can see the connection with the economy and times of war.
So PDJT, with one executive action, has now cut off connections between federal leaders and the rest of the people of the US!
Thank you for taking the time to read.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/.../continuing-the-reduction.../?

03/14/2025

Working to help those at risk of or currently homelessness and vulnerable is getting challenging.

02/17/2025

Emily Kenney, speaking on homelessness and landlord engagement.

02/17/2025

Cody Andrews speaking at WI Balance of State Conference 02/17/2025

02/13/2025

02/12/2025

How does Racine County compare?
Racine County ($1,149) has a 9.2% higher FMR for 2-Bedroom housing than the average of Wisconsin ($1,052) and therefore a higher gross rent.

Racine County is rank 12th out of 72 counties. This means the FMRs, or in other words, the gross rent is higher than 60 other counties. Racine County is the 12th most expensive county in terms of FMRs.

Source:

2025 Fair Market Rents for Racine County, WI, Including 40th percentile Rents, 50th (median) Rents, and Small Area Rents (By ZIP Code).

02/11/2025

Published by the National Low Income Housing Coalition https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/2024_OOR-wisconsin.pdf

01/28/2025

https://natlawreview.com/article/alert-trump-administration-issues-pause-federal-grant-spending-effective-january-28

On January 27, 2025, the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) released a memorandum regarding “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs” (OMB Memorandum M-25-13; hereinafter the “OMB Memo”)).

01/23/2025

January Point-in-Time volunteers getting ready to go out for the evening count.