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Marathon County reviews Family Keys housing pilot as budget talks loom
Summary
County officials reviewed preliminary outcomes from the Family Keys pilot — a two‑year, multi‑county effort to address housing instability as a way to reduce child removals — and were urged to consider sustainability during upcoming budget discussions.
Administrator Leonard briefed the Marathon County Health and Human Services Committee on the Family Keys pilot, saying Marathon County, La Crosse County and Wood County were selected by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to participate in the program.
The program, Leonard said, aims to address housing instability to reduce the length of out‑of‑home placements when unstable housing is the primary driver of child removal. “This is a pilot program that Marathon County along with, La Crosse County and Wood County were selected by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to participate in family keys across those 3 counties,” Administrator Leonard said.
Leonard told the committee Krista Jensen of Social Services could not attend the meeting but had prepared slides and hyperlinks with participant testimonials and outcome measures that committee members could review ahead of a future presentation. Leonard said the county has enrolled 21 families and 53 children in the program since it began, and described the model as emphasizing accountability: families are paired with landlords and must participate in services and financial planning so they can assume long‑term leases.
Leonard said the pilot moves away from congregate living toward individually matched landlord arrangements and that early comparisons show net savings when measured against traditional out‑of‑home placement costs. He cautioned the committee the county is not statutorily required to provide this exact model and that sustainability will require ongoing partnership funding and community supports. “At the end of the day, this is not a key area where the county is mandated to provide the service specifically in this way,” he said.
No formal action was taken at the meeting; Leonard said Jensen will return to present the full slides and data at a future meeting where members can ask more detailed questions. The presentation was offered as context for upcoming budget deliberations, when the board will decide whether to continue, modify or fund the program more permanently.
Committee members were directed to review the slide packet and embedded videos before the next meeting and prepare questions for Jensen’s return.
