Since launching in January 2024, Pathways Home—our City-County homelessness response plan—has delivered measurable results:

--260+ people housed

--50+ new housing units added

--In 2025, more people exited homelessness than entered it

Pathways has strengthened coordination, created a specialized County outreach team, and secured new grant funding to expand local efforts.

At a joint meeting Monday, the City Council and County Board reviewed progress and previewed some of what's ahead (view the full presentation here):

What’s Ahead

--Strengthening Prevention: A new housing stability tracker will monitor residents at higher risk of eviction, enabling early intervention and better coordination of prevention services.

--Community Support Fund: A new fund at the La Crosse Area Community Foundation will raise dollars for Pathways projects, including a temporary 18-bed expansion at the Salvation Army Shelter.

The Goal

Homelessness peaked at about 295 people in November 2024 but has since dropped to 224. Nine out of 10 people who are homeless in La Crosse last had housing in La Crosse, according to data collected by the Pathways team.

Jim Drees, the County's Homelessness Response System Manager, noted that if we can house six more people each month than those entering homelessness, we could reach functional zero by the end of 2028—making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Challenges, especially finding and funding more housing units, remain, and community support will be needed to reach the goal of ending long-term homelessness in La Crosse.