County: intensive-needs housing is the 'stuck' part of Pathways Home; 60 intensive units still required

Jim Drees told the meeting that the system is biased toward rehousing people with lighter needs and that placements for those with intensive daily-support needs remain the crux of the challenge. "Our intensive housing units were sort of stuck," Drees said, describing limited local capacity and high operational costs for 24/7 or daily-care placements.

Presenters reiterated unit shortfalls: they said the community still needs about 60 intensive units and roughly 70 moderate units to match assessed need. They described potential approaches—scattered-site individual units with daily oversight, adult group-home placements in other parts of Wisconsin, and a five-unit community support program pilot funded by Home ARP—that could incrementally reduce the intensive backlog.

Officials emphasized measurement and segmentation of the intensive cohort (subgroups with substance-use disorder, severe mental illness, co-occurring conditions) to target interventions and estimate costs. They cautioned this will require additional multi-year funding and partnerships with Medicaid and nonprofit providers.