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Board discusses staffing shortages, retention and rising demand for housing and behavioral‑health services

Winnebago County Human Services Board · February 23, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Human Services leaders told the Winnebago County board they have about a dozen open positions, are posting a third initial‑assessment supervisor to reduce caseloads, and have expanded housing specialists to five staff; housing specialists reported about 2,034 contacts from June–Feb (contacts, not unduplicated people).

Board members spent a substantial portion of the Feb. 23 meeting on recruitment, retention and operational pressures across child‑welfare, behavioral‑health and housing programs.

Presenter reported 12 open positions on the department career page (13 if the director position were included). The department recorded higher turnover than the national average last year (16.9% vs. 13.5% nationally), with 73 new hires, 52 resignations and 10 retirements in the previous year. Presenter said the department is repurposing…

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