Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Emergency Assistance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Vernon County committee approves $40,000 request to fund emergency housing assistance after Couleecap presentation
Summary
After a presentation from Couleecap on local housing needs, the committee voted to submit a $40,000 county allocation request to fund emergency motel vouchers, security deposits and case-managed housing stabilization for Vernon County residents.
Couleecap brought local housing needs into focus for the Vernon County Economic Development & Housing Committee, and members voted to request $40,000 in county funding to fill gaps in emergency housing services.
The presentation and vote came after Katie Brown, executive director of Couleecap Inc., summarized services the community action agency provides to Vernon County residents and the ongoing gaps in state and federal funding. "We receive about 3 calls a week for assistance from Vernon County residents," Brown said, noting the agency operates coordinated entry, motel vouchers, rapid rehousing, tenant-based rental assistance and supportive case management across a four-county region.
The committee’s vote follows Brown’s description of how rural service delivery differs from urban areas: Vernon County lacks a 24-hour emergency shelter, so Couleecap often uses motel stays as immediate shelter. Brown said an online rent tracker shows about 150 households in Vernon County were behind on rent, by an estimated $700 on average, and that during the COVID rental assistance program Couleecap helped about 900 households avoid eviction and distributed roughly $1.5 million to local landlords.
Committee members discussed options for creating a locally funded gap-filler modeled on a program in neighboring Crawford County. Brown described Crawford County’s arrangement: an annual appropriation (initially ARPA funds) dedicated to emergency housing placements for county residents only, used only after state and federal funds are exhausted, with anonymized program and financial reporting back to the county finance committee.
After discussion, a motion to move forward with a county-level request for $40,000 to fund emergency sheltering and prevention services for Vernon County residents was put before the group and approved. The committee chair said, "Signify by saying aye," and the motion passed. The committee instructed staff to package the request for submission to the county finance process.
The request is intended to be a gap-filling appropriation: Couleecap would exhaust state and federal sources first, then draw county funds if additional support were still needed. Brown said the county allocation would be accompanied by program and finance reports showing how many households were served and how county dollars were spent.
The committee did not set an exact implementation timeline in the meeting; members discussed whether the request should be submitted as part of the 2026 whole-county budgeting process or as an annual appropriation. A committee member suggested the request could be phased into the general fund over multiple years if the program expands.
Speakers quoted in this article are limited to those identified in committee proceedings and the Couleecap presentation. The reported vote was recorded in the meeting audio as a formal motion that passed; the transcript does not record a roll-call tally or the names of every aye vote.
