Grant To Fund Landlord Liaison For Western Wisconsin Homeless

A group of western Wisconsin nonprofits has won a state grant to help find landlords willing to rent to homeless individuals.

For Jeanne Semb of Western Dairyland Community Action Agency, it’s gotten harder to find landlords willing to rent to people with a history of homelessness even though her clients have financial backing in the form of guaranteed rental assistance.

“I think that there’s not a lot of knowledge about our program in the landlord community, in the property management community,” Semb said.

But with the help of a $40,000 state grant, her group, along with Catholic Charities and the Eau Claire Interfaith Hospitality Network, will create a full-time position aimed at building landlord trust in their re-housing programs.

“We kind of thought, why don’t we just try and write for a position that would actually be able to talk with landlords to find out what landlords are looking for, why they’re hesitant to rent to these folks,” Semb said.

The position is funded through next summer. Semb said organizations in Madison are looking into a similar program.